CXC qualifications added to CSME

Starting next year, persons with Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) qualifications will be able to travel to any Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) compliant country to seek employment without facing discrimination.{{more}}

Lennox Forte, from the CSME Unit in Barbados, disclosed this information on Tuesday, October 30, as he addressed secondary school students at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade and the Caricom Secretariat Cultural Presentation and Lecture at the Arnos Vale Sporting Complex.

“If all goes well, next year, once you have a major CXC qualification, you will be free to apply for jobs in any Caricom country that is CSME compliant, and your applications will be and must be treated similar to that of the nationals in that member state,” Forte told the students.

According to Forte, Caricom member states will be extending the category that allows persons to travel from one island to another in search of jobs that were previously just graduates, media workers and artistes to nurses, teachers, persons with CXC qualifications, technical workers and entrepreneurs.

“The CSME process has opened and will continue to open up jobs in regional institutions requiring new skills, new techniques in art, and is continuing to open up jobs on research on regional issues,” Forte told the students.

“They would need to become certified by the National Accreditation Body in their country so they can be assured that the person is qualified, and then they could travel with the intention of seeking jobs,” he explained.

Upon entering any member state, the person would be given six months to find a job, and if successful, they would be granted unlimited stay and multiple entries into that country.

“This requires you to focus on your skills while you are in school and … to be serious at this critical time in your life,” he encouraged the students.

Also addressing the students were the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade, Louis Straker, who encouraged the students that there will be persons from different countries who will be competing against them in their own country and, therefore, they would need to study hard.(SB)