Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 18, 2024 (SKNIS): The Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) in St. Kitts is poised to step up recruitment initiatives to get more women involved in technical and vocational fields traditionally dominated by men.
The college’s newest project, which was launched on April 09, 2024, offers training to persons in solar photovoltaic and electrical vehicle maintenance and repair, and features one female and fourteen male students.
On the April 18, edition of the radio and television programme InFocus, Fitzroy Wilkin, project lead for the Caribbean Centre of Excellence in Research, Innovation, and Workforce Training project as it is officially dubbed, said he hoped to see more applications from women.
“The only disappointment … was the response from the female gender. I really expected a higher number,” Mr. Wilkin stated, noting that plans are being developed to aggressively attract more women to sign up for the second cohort of the free training.
CFBC President, Andrew Abraham, noted that the educational institution has seen some progress with female enrolment in areas such as carpentry, automotive and electrical. Additionally, CFBC is collaborating with partners to offer training for participants in Phase II of the Women Employment Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion Project.
“It is encouraging, and for us as it relates to the renewable energy programme, we are going to be more direct in terms of targeting women to enroll in the programme to begin the process of removing that gender bias, and so we will have more spaces available for women,” President Abraham stated, while encouraging females listening and viewing the programme to apply for technical and vocational courses.
“The [Business] Professional Women is an entity that we are going to be targeting of course,” he added. “We have one of the more active members of that body in Dr. Christine Walwyn, who we will be meeting with shortly to discuss other projects that CFBC can partner with to create additional opportunities for women.”
Mr. Abraham indicated that the non-traditional fields are welcoming to women. He cited the success of Anelda Maynard-Tate, a respected certified professional who taught electrical at CFBC for seven years as a model for women interested in the field.