The Ministry of Tertiary Education and Skills Training is moving to establish a voluntary registration system for local technicians, including plumbers, electricians and other skilled professionals.
Minister of Tertiary Education and Skills Training, Professor Prakash Persad, said discussions are already underway to create a national database of certified technicians.
“We have started discussions to have voluntary registration of technicians in engineering, allied health, etc. A database so they’ll be certified. If you want a good plumber or good electrician, where do you check? You ask your neighbour? So once we have these voluntary registration people, we can let the country know who are the technicians, where their certification.”
The Minister explained that the proposed system is also intended to bring greater oversight and standardisation to the sector.
“That standardises fees, isn’t that so? So this is in active discussions. The draft, once the policy, we’re finished discussions, the policy is going to go forward to Cabinet for approval. Now to tie all this together, recently the Cabinet approved a National Apprenticeship Policy.”