C.E.T. holds open house
It seems like only yesterday that the Belize City Centre for Employment Training on St. Thomas Street first opened its doors. But the nation’s premier vocational training institution has been teaching valuable skills for over a decade. Yesterday News 5’s Jacqueline Woods stopped in for an update.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Once a year the staff and students at the Centre for Employment Training showcase their skills by holding an open house at the school. The activity allows business owners, visiting students and parents to tour the various displays to see the work done by the two hundred CET students.
Cecil Ford, Manager, CET
“We are trying to move into having trainees do better quality work. So one instructor would say like Mister Ford, this year I am stressing quality and he is going to take it down and do it over and over until he gets it right.”
Leonard Lewis, Student, CET
“CET should be an uplifting thing for youths now a days because it has helped me a lot for not giving up in life because you always have a chance to uplift yourself not only depending on your family, you know. You have a chance to do something better.”
Many of the students did not complete high school, but some do plan to get a secondary education after completing their course at CET. Other students go directly into the workforce or try to start their own business. One set of students, who have been well received by the business community are the young women from the Catering and Hospitality course.
Jehan Gillett, Student, CET
“I think it is because it is a growing industry and everybody is interested in the tourism industry and due to the school and advertisement and everything we have an excellent programme.”
Cecil Ford
“For the most part, most of them obtain employment. As a matter of fact, when they go on job training a lot of them get employed at the same establishment where they have done their on the job training.”
The activity was CET’s twelfth annual open house. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
