Fifteen get scholarships for IT-VET

Fifteen students, primarily from the Belize and Stann Creek Districts, today received scholarships from the Department of the Environment to take up technical training in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning. The courses are being offered at the I.T. VET Centres in the Belize and Orange Walk Districts with the support of the D.O.E. as the focal point for the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone layer in Belize. Organizers believe that the scholarships will also provide opportunities for education to many young people and will facilitate their entry into the labour force.

Martin Alegria, Chief Environmental Officer
“Concentrating in Belize since 2002 or so in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector of Belize where we have most of the ozone depleting substances being used—in the refrigeration sector, the Freons. As time went by since 2004 or so we realized slowly that the refrigeration technician sector needed some assistance. We tried to train them. We did train a lot of them; over a hundred and seventy or more. But as the time went by we realized that more assistance was needed. That’s why we came up last year with the idea of having a “Train the youths beginning”; not only dealing with those who are already refrigeration technicians and working in the field, but those new people who would want to come into the field and bettering themselves, their education and a scholarship programme inclusive of some small tool kits to help them get started was looked at and this is the ceremony today to prize gift certificates; the scholarship certificate to those who were successful and some little equipment.”

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
“It is the hope that this kind of scholarship programme will help the students to get the proper certification that will soon be required under the refrigeration registration bill that will be passed very shortly. It will require those who are working in the refrigeration and air condition areas of our country to be properly certified and registered. And so when the ministry gives scholarships like this it’s to ensure that these students are better qualified and to ensure that they are able to register once this bill becomes legislation. We continue what was started to improve these institutions we are calling IT-Vet. In fact, the one here in Belize City, we’ve just awarded another phase of work to be done on that project. It is going to be at the former Belize Technical College and we are hoping to move this campus that is here on St. Thomas Street over to that compound a little bit later on this year or maybe early this year. So there are great things planned for vocational technical education.”

Gaspar Vega, Minister, Natural Resources
“I believe the Department is concentrated on Belize district and Orange Walk District basically because that’s where they have the most people wanting the license and that is the reason why they picked those two. I believe we are investing about twenty-five thousand dollars for the entire programme. That includes the total tuition for the kids and the basic equipment that they need for starting the programme.”

Marion Ali
“Okay, so students who would like to enter here after, what would they need to do?”

Gaspar Vega
“They need to apply to the Department of Environment which is headed by Mr. Martin Alegria. They are the ones that totally control that.”

The courses will last for a year and will cover workshop-laboratory fee, Trainee Insurance, Testing and Certification Fee and Tuition.