Guyana is steadily building the foundation for a skilled oil and gas workforce and is “on course” to follow the proven path once taken by Trinidad and Tobago, according to Professor Clement Sankat, Director of the Guyana Technical Training College Inc. (GTTCI).
“I think we are on course,” Sankat said during an interview on Starting Point: The Oil and Gas Edition last Sunday. “We’re not rivaling Trinidad and Tobago, but we are following a model that has worked.”
Sankat, who spent decades at the University of the West Indies (UWI), said Trinidad’s success began with a national commitment to education. “Trinidad and Tobago has developed a tremendous training infrastructure,” he said. “The first prime minister, Eric Williams, was very passionate about education. There’s a famous quote of his that your future lies in your book bag.”
That vision led to the establishment of UWI’s St. Augustine campus in the 1960s, with its first programme focused on engineering. “He insisted that the second campus of the University of the West Indies be built in Trinidad, and the first programme was going to be one in engineering,” Sankat said. Over time, Trinidad built a system that linked academic and technical learning to its industrial base. “We built petroleum engineering, petroleum geology, and petroleum geophysics,” he explained. “We built an infrastructure at UWI to train the engineering professionals for the oil and gas industry.”
Trinidad’s investment paid off. “Trinidad’s oil and gas industry also has a world-class petrochemical industry, urea, ammonia, methanol, chemicals, and fertilizers,” Sankat said, adding, “The graduates of the Faculty of Engineering are leading the industry. They run them.”
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He also credited postgraduate business training for strengthening leadership in the sector. Sankat believes Guyana is moving in the right direction by investing heavily in technical education. The GTTCI, a partnership between the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil and supported by SBM Offshore Guyana, now offers globally accredited programmes that train mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, and process-production technicians locally.
“That is the same story I want to see replicated by Guyana,” he said. “It’s not only about the Guyana Technical Training College. There is a role for the university and its Faculty of Technology. Together, we can build the disciplines and the professionals.”
Sankat believes that with sustained investment and a clear vision, Guyana’s training institutions can mirror Trinidad’s success. “Guyana must develop its own training infrastructure,” he said. “What Trinidad did in the 1960s and 1970s, we are doing now, and we are doing it with global standards in mind.”
He added, “Guyana is on course. What we’re building here will not only serve our country but prepare our young people to succeed anywhere in the world.”
