HC Deb 01 August 1957 vol 574 c238W
53. Mr. Malcolm MacPherson

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what proposals have been made by the Governments of British West Indian territories for the development of technical education; and what facilities now exist in each territory, respectively.

Mr. Profumo

The Government of Jamaica propose to establish a technical college near Kingston. The Government of Trinidad, I understand, propose to build a technical institute at Port of Spain.

There are at present five institutions for technical education in the British Caribbean. Three of them, the Kingston Technical School in Jamaica, the Belize Technical College in British Honduras and the San Fernando Technical Institute in Trinidad, play a double rôle in that they ace technical schools by day and technical institutes by night. The remaining two institutions, the Richmond Technical Institute in Barbados and the Georgetown Technical Institute in British Guiana, are what in this country would be described as institutes for further education. In addition to these five institutions, some of the West Indies Governments run trade training courses and apprenticeship schemes for the part-time training of employees in industry. A number of the larger industrial and commercial undertakings throughout the region have established their own training schools and training courses and, in general, are willing to grant employees part-time day release in order to attend.