After 14 weeks of training, 140 students have been equipped to join the country’s workforce and graduated from the third cohort of the National Training Agency (NTA) on Thursday, April 23 during a ceremony at Holy Trinity Activities Centre, Stapledon Gardens.
The government officially launched the competency-based training and job placement agency that prepares young adults for successful entry into the workforce in July, 2013.
NTA has trained some 760 students in New Providence, Grand Bahama and Exuma within the near two-year period.
Graduates received certificates and pins for completing studies in hospitality (food and beverage, food preparation and housekeeping), retail knowledge and introduction to Microsoft Word Processing, auto service and care and allied health care/patient care assistant.
“Star” awards were presented to graduates for outstanding performance. The recipients are: Tanya Scavella, allied health care; Nicoya Johnson, retail knowledge; Anastacia Bethel, hospitality (food and beverage); Lashan Lightbourne, food preparation; Shavonne Clarke, housekeeping and Don Taylor, auto service and care. Nicoya Johnson also received the executive director’s award for leadership acumen.
Among those participating in the event were Elizabeth Keju, chairman of NTA Board of Directors; Herbert Brown, managing director, Public Hospitals Authority. Entertainment was provided by The Royal Bahamas Police Force Pop Band, New Providence staff of the NTA, and Kendria Mackey, NTA graduate.
Mr. Brown said PHA was pleased to partner with NTA to allow young Bahamians the opportunity to explore the world of health care. He told the students that they have the power to achieve and their goals are limited only by their imagination.
In her keynote address, Minister of Financial Services Hope Strachan encouraged the graduates to move to the next goal.
Outlining achievements in her life, the minister advised the graduates that life is always evolving and they have the ability to improve their lives as long as they set goals and work towards achieving them with honesty and integrity.
She said, “You have begun the journey to professional excellence with this step. As you build your career and improve your quality of life, you will have to take many more steps. Go boldly, knowing that the National Training Agency has stirred something good in you, something that makes you aware of the talent and potential that God has placed in each of you.”
The minister challenged the male graduates to “step up their game” as their female counterparts have outnumbered them and statistics show they are also outperforming them.
“Men are extremely important to the development of our country,” she said. “Our country cannot survive without productive, God-fearing men. We are losing too many men for irrational and stupid reasons.”
She congratulated NTA for its outstanding work and described the impact it has made on the skills development and workforce readiness of young Bahamian adults as “profound”.
Approximately 240 students are currently enrolled in NTA’s fourth cohort and are being trained in customer service, basic accounting/Quickbooks, butler services, maritime navigation for seafarers, along with others.
