Community College reaches out to G’town

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College has commenced its outreach programme in Georgetown.{{more}}

On Monday, May 10, 2010, Advanced Level classes commenced in several subject areas at the Georgetown Secondary School. The subjects on offer include Mathematics, Accounts, Business Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Geography and Communication Studies.

The Georgetown classes are the first in a national campaign aimed at bringing the College’s programmes to the communities. The principal objective of the outreach effort is to provide educational opportunities for members of the community who have been disadvantaged in one way or the other. Programmes will be offered at three different levels: Advanced Level/CAPE, CXC-CSEC/GCE, and Technical Vocational.

Through these programmes, the college hopes to provide opportunities for individuals to pursue courses at the Advanced Level, to enable them to matriculate and gain entry to University, or increase their employability; to provide opportunities for individuals to pursue courses at the GCE O’Level/CXC-CSEC Level to enable them to matriculate and gain entry to the SVG Community College or similar institutions, or increase their employability; to provide training opportunities for the acquisition of specialized skills, thereby enabling individuals to become more employable or being able to enter institutions of higher learning to pursue further studies in their area of specialization; to increase the level of consciousness in rural communities, thereby enabling members of the community to appreciate the need for constant educational upgrading both in academic and skills-based subject areas. This we believe will contribute significantly to the development of the community and the nation as a whole.

Since November last year, the recently appointed head of Outreach, Kenroy Johnson, has been collecting information and promoting these programmes throughout the country, including Bequia in the Grenadines. The information collected has revealed the need for such courses at the different levels throughout the country. Other areas targeted for Outreach classes in the near future include: North leeward, Central Leeward, Marriaqua and Bequia. Further future expansion is earmarked for the Southern Grenadines and other areas in St Vincent. CXC – CSEC courses as well as Technical Vocational courses are slated to begin in several of the locations in September this year.

The first batch of students at the Georgetown Classes will sit the Advanced Level exams in June and November 2011.