The Suriname Hospitality and Tourism Training Centre (SHTTC) foundation, popularly known as the Suriname Tourism School, has a new board led by Ushadevi Balesar. The management of the foundation was handed over on Wednesday, July 13, 2022 by the outgoing board chaired by Imro Smith.
Outgoing Chair, Imro Smith said that despite the liquidity problems, SHTTC has steadily provided the Tourism and Hospitality sector with competency-based workers, either as a labor force or as a small independent contractor, during his tenure on the board.
He stated that this year will see a widening of almost 75 to 100 percent more certified trainees delivered, compared to 2016 when he took the helm with 181 trainees delivered that year. The expectation this year, according to SHTTC Director, Rabin Buddha, is 300 to 400 trainees to be delivered to the Tourism and Hospitality sector. This is partly due to the fact that more training and education courses have been developed.
Smith also mentioned as a harvest, the winding down and operationalization of the Hotel School under the Twinning Facility between Suriname and the Netherlands. Smith is very grateful to Director Buddha and the staff for their efforts and the love shown for the organization.
He also thanked the representatives of both the VSB, Dayenne Wielingen and of the Ministry of Education Science and Culture, John Koorndijk, on the board for their insights and contributions that have helped to ensure good governance, supervision and policy at SHTTC. Smith served on the board on behalf of the Ministry of Labor.
The new chairperson, Ushadevi Balesar expressed gratitude to the outgoing board for the hard work that has been done at SHTTC. She assured that her board is at least going for consolidation of what has been found at SHTTC. Her aim is to expand the activities of the tourism school to all districts in our country.
The SHTTC is a government foundation that falls under the ministries of: Transport Communication and Tourism (TCT), Labor Employment & Youth Affairs (AW&J), and Education Science and Culture. The current board includes: Ushadevi Balesar (president/ TCT), Naomi Esajas-Friperson (vice president/ AW&J), Nazara Kranenburg (TCT), Shyamnath Raghoenath (AW&J), Sherida Mormon (VSB), Cherida Bottenbly-Schet (Education Science and Culture).
Foto: AWJ
