Public Service College officially launched

More than 60 young people will benefit from training at the newly launched Bertram Collins College of the Public Service as part of efforts to improve the public service sector.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon told the young cadets that they were the faces that would represent the improvements that are being made in the public sector at today’s launch of the Bertram Collins College of the Public Service held at the Department of Public Service, Durban Street and Vlissengen Road, Georgetown.

“You are the ones that we are relying on to make the face of the public service different than it was many, many years ago,” Minister Harmon told the 17 to 21- year old cadets at the launch.

The college is part of President David Granger’s commitment to build capacity and improve the efficiency of the public service. The realisation of the college “is a testimony to the importance which his Excellency, the President pays to training of our public service,” Minister Harmon said.

The one-year cadet programme is designed to ensure that entry level public servants have the “expert knowledge and a high level of intelligence that is needed to carry out their functions,” Senior Executive Director of the college, Retired Colonel Lawrence Paul said.

Cadets will receive formal and informal training in 17 areas in preparation for public service. Paul said there will also be visits and attachments to public institutions as part of the training.

“The visits and attachments are meant to better prepare the cadets to take up their assigned roles in public service and widen their understanding of the structure and function of public institutions, but more importantly they should be able to understand how Guyana works and should better appreciate why they should dispense their duties with integrity, impartiality and objectivity,” the Ret’d Colonel added.

The college will also seek to become the transformative institution that can bring about fundamental improvement in the performance and behaviour of public servants, Paul added.

The physical college will eventually be established at the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) headquarters in Ogle, East Coast Demerara. Paul noted that construction works are still on-going.

Meanwhile, Guyana has been collaborating with the Canadian and several Caribbean governments to standardise “high level management” Public Service training across the Caribbean Region, the Minster of State pointed out.

“When our Public Service heads of departments and the Permanent Secretaries, when they retire, they can also find work all across the region because they have similar training,” Minister Harmon explained.

The Department of Public Service’s training division has been continuously training public servants at all levels as part of improving the image and efficiency of the public service sector. (GINA)