PHILIPSBURG--President of the Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) and the Windward Islands Chamber of Labour (WICLU) union Claire Elshot says several things need to be done for the National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) to function properly. First, she said authorities should establish an Education and Labour Committee ROA (in Dutch: Raad Onderwijs Arbeid) for the NIPA.
An ROA committee is an advisory body on labour market needs and vocational education and it is necessary for an institute such as NIPA. She said also that authorities should put competent management in place at the institution and the board can then step back and allow management to handle its tasks. Since the levels of the NIPA programmes have already been worked on, she says that a proper marketing programme should be put in place to attract students to attend the institute. NIPA has been plagued by several controversies lately.
