The question of qualifications has become a growing part of the national discussion about employment in both the private and public sector. The most outrageous recent example was the Reshmi Ramnarine issue in January, in which an ambitious clerical worker at the now defunct Security Intelligence Agency was promoted to the governing post of director. Within 24 hours of the queries into her qualifications, Ramnarine resigned from the post. It remains unclear how it was possible for her resume to rise all the way to the Cabinet without being properly reviewed, particularly for the sensitive intelligence post that was at stake.
On the other hand, it was only recently that Opposition Leader Keith Rowley raised a question about the qualifications of Omar Khan, an experienced communications manager at Powergen and an outstanding contributor to West Indies cricket as a successful manager of both the T&T and regional teams, who was appointed chairman of T&TEC. Khan has been quoted as saying he did not know who misrepresented his qualifications to Cabinet. But, truth be told, Mr Khan's performance in the T&TEC chair would be influenced more by his many years of experience in the utility sector and his obvious human resource management capacity, than whether or not he is an engineer. In April, Petrotrin began a forensic probe into 22 employees under suspicion of having falsified their credentials to gain employment with the company. By June, four of the employees under review had been fired, some for faked qualifications as basic as CXC certificates. The situation is exacerbated by the increased number of students arriving in the workforce with tertiary education certification, many as a result of increased student volumes at UWI and the output of the University of Trinidad and Tobago.
The effect of such an increase in qualified candidates on the pool of employment possibilities is to inevitably raise the bar for entry to lower level jobs that would traditionally serve as critical training engagements for less qualified though no less capable applicants. The On-the-Job (OJT) training programme does this for recent university graduates, but there is no similar system for applicants without degrees or other tertiary education. In the absence of a process that bridges accomplishment in the workplace with formal certification, employers need to consider an apprenticeship programme that engages promising employees in training and education opportunities that prepare them for suitable roles on the job.
One of the more notable apprenticeship programmes operating in Trinidad and Tobago is T&TEC's system for training young linesmen. For employers keen to embrace sensible ways to bring young, marginally qualified workers into productive participation with their companies, it provides an excellent model. Ministers of government, former prime minister Patrick Manning once noted, need only bring "a level head and common sense" to their tasks. The People's Partnership Government came to power trumpeting their qualifications for the task of governance, but most citizens would cheerfully trade politicians who are, as 2010 Calypso Monarch Kurt Allen described them, "Too Smart" for representatives who demonstrated honesty and compassion served with a hefty helping of the aforementioned common sense.
The man who is most often identified as the source of the term "Renaissance man," Leonardo Da Vinci, was said to have identified himself as "omo sanza lettere," which is translated variously as "man without learning" and "craftsman, not a scholar." It refers directly to the fact that the 15th century polymath who excelled as a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer, never got an actual scholarly degree. If nothing else, Da Vinci's remarkable body of work argues that education is not the business of certification but rather the continuing pursuit of deeper understanding and excellence. As T&T strives for development of its human resources, decision makers must be careful to balance certificates and credentials with experience, accomplishments achieved in the workplace and a will to work hard with honesty and integrity.