Success is not a destination ‑ Prof. Devonish (+VIDEO)

Success is a journey and not a destination, contrary to what others may believe.

This is the conviction of Professor of Management and Human Organisation, Dwayne Devonish, which he shared yesterday, while delivering the feature address at the graduation ceremony of cohort six of the Youth & Adults Training for Employment (YATE).

“They see success, as some final destination, like becoming a millionaire by 25 years of age, owning a profitable business, being married to a supermodel on TikTok,” Devonish told the graduates at the ceremony at the Kingstown Methodist Church.

He however said he thinks success should be considered a journey.

“When you see success as a journey, you will not have the problem of arriving at some elusive destination. You will never find yourself in a position where you have accomplished some final goal, only to discover that you are unfulfilled and searching for something else to do.”

He also urged listeners not to view Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) as last resort when students cannot make it academically.

The feature speaker said when he was 15 years old, the deputy principal at his school told him he was not doing well academically, so maybe he should try one of the technical institutes.

“… So it was her way of saying, we can’t deal with you at this institution, it’s best that you find TVET as if TVET was something to treat to my ‘deficiency.’”

Though the journey of success may be filled with challenges, he encouraged the graduating class to see them as ‘sign posts’. He listed Walt Disney, Albert Einstein and Michael Jordan as popular figures who also had challenges. He urged the class of 2023 to use the stories of these figures as motivation in their own path to success.

The professor said that he was a part of the evaluation and monitoring team of cohort six. He said there were high expectations of success from this cohort, and after a few weeks, more than 80 per cent of the group had successfully completed the programme.

He added that life skills of the students had improved as well as their technical skills, which would be useful in their careers.

He noted that there is high interest among the participants for more advanced training. Devonish says that he will work along with the other tutors to find a way that they can support post-programme training.

The YATE programme is a component of the Human Development Service Delivery (HDSD) project which is funded by a loan through the World Bank.

The YATE programme was designed to assist unemployed and underemployed youth and adults between the ages 17- 45 to develop the basic competencies needed to obtain employment and/or to pursue further employment-related training.

Unemployed youths and adults participate in CVQ Levels 1 and 2 programmes, which aim to provide quality, competency-based certification consistent with labour market needs. The primary target would be to gain a minimum of five CVQ Units.

An aspect of the training focused on entrepreneurship, life skills coaching, career coaching and financial management which has been impacting the participants even after completion of the training.

Following completion of in-class training, trainees were assigned on work attachments with employers.

The training spanned areas such as Electrical Installation, Plumbing, Data Operations, Food Preparation, Food and Beverage, Welding, Housekeeping, Cosmetology and General Construction.