The Tribune

THE National Training Agency (NTA) completed a four-week training programme, helping more than 200 young Bahamians.

The agency's Mandatory Workforce Preparation Training scheme, a series of sessions to develop skills and help understand workplace dynamics, was completed on August 24.

More than 200 Bahamians between the ages of 16 and 26 are enrolled, and will continue on to ten weeks of skills training as of yesterday.

Trainees are divided into 11 disciplines which include: allied health care, butler services, food & beverage service, housekeeping, food preparation, Microsoft Office, auto-body repair, customer service, office procedures, non-instructional teacher's aide and QuickBooks accounting. All areas of training run for 14 weeks, with the exception of allied health care, which runs for 16 weeks. The graduation for cohort eight is scheduled for early 2018.

The NTA's new executive director, Gadville McDonald, and board of directors are committed to building upon the foundation of the agency; but more importantly, new strategies are being developed to achieve the greater objectives of the NTA.

The objectives include, among many: improving quality of instruction by delivering competency-based training through a more responsive and flexible delivery and assessment system; producing booklets, brochures, programmes, media advertising and other promotional materials to enhance the image of competency-based vocational training and certification as the catalyst for building a productivity-focused, service-driven workforce; designing and developing a tracking and monitoring system to measure the results of the agency's activities.

To date, the NTA, which was legislated in 2013, has trained over 4,000 young Bahamians in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Exuma and Eleuthera.