Students learn the art of the barber

We’re always hearing that Belize needs more vocational education programs, but if you thought this could only be achieved at a facility like the Center for Employment Training, think again. The residents of the Princess Royal Youth Hostel will be embarking on some training and when they are through, you may very well find some of them working at your neighborhood barbershop. Acting Director of the Youth Start Plan Sandra Bradshaw told us more about the venture.

Sandra Bradshaw, Acting Director, Youth Start Plan

“This course is a unique course. It’s the first of its kind in Belize on such a large scale and we will be seeking to train young people. The target group being between the ages of sixteen to twenty-nine. We will be training them in barbering and barber styling. It is a two prong approach because we have to place some of them in permanent employment and in addition there is the entrepreneur part of our program which we hope to get some of them started in their own business.

Some of the prospects of the trainees will come from here, but it is open to the whole country. We have been doing promotions for the past few months around the country and through the media in the paper and through tours that we did countrywide in promoting this program. Application forms have been sent out and the deadline was yesterday. We have seen a total of about thirty applications from which we will screen and have an intake of twenty persons for the barbering course.”

The course, which will last for fourteen weeks, concludes in August. The Youth Hostel will be implementing additional programs to benefit residents.