Former minister of tertiary education and skills training Fazal Karim, who died on Monday, was a steadfast educator, passionate about advancing vocational and technical skills across T&T and the Caribbean, with tangible benefits for at-risk youth and a general reduction in crime.
Karim, who lost a ten-year battle with cancer, firmly believed that those who were not academically inclined should not be left behind for failure to attain traditional CXC and GCE passes.
Determined to expand the opportunities for training and skills development, he dedicated a significant portion of his life to ensuring that those who achieved the desired skills were also officially certified–a legacy with its genesis in his parents' success as skilled workers.
Karim pioneered the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) through CXC and workforce assessment centres, all to elevate vocational education and training.
He has left behind a solid platform to continue lifting youth out of poverty and directing the vulnerable away from criminal lives.
If there were a time that such a vision was crucial, it is now.
The recent surge in gang-related criminal activity requires holistic approaches, not least of which are opportunities for vulnerable youth to live meaningful lives.
Karim kept the linkages between skills training and crime reduction sharply in focus when he served as a government minister between 2010 and 2015.
In 2013, during an address to the first batch of graduates of the Workforce Assessment Centres at the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) in Point Lisas, he expressed a strong wish to certify all workers in garages and construction sites across the country.
From his perspective, those faced with the pressure to perform academically well while lacking the capacity to do so were more inclined to drop out of school, only to find that a system of proper alternatives was not there.
He maintained that vocational training should not just be seen as a measure of intervention for at-risk youth but as a viable career choice with tremendous earning potential.
Karim's passion for enriching the quality of education in T&T led to the NESC offering a range of skills training programmes in areas such as automotive services, heavy equipment operation, building construction and maintenance, air-conditioning and refrigeration repair, industrial maintenance, welding and fabrication.
The programmes also involved a significant number of young women in at-risk communities who earned certificates in masonry, automotive repair, pipefitting, welding, and plumbing.
The dire situation that T&T is currently in due to high levels of delinquency and gang associations brings Karim's stated goal back into focus and highlights the need to ensure that vocational programmes are marketed broadly as positive alternatives to academia.
The impact of vocational training in reducing inmate recidivism has been documented just as much as its value on crime prevention.
As the country bids farewell to Karim, his vision must remain in focus among all agencies committed to the fight against crime and the upliftment of the nation's youth.