Mr. Dennie, who was speaking at a seminar in honour of Global Entrepreneurship Week at City View Hotel in Antigua yesterday, said the present model was not suited to the present job market and discouraged would-be businesspersons.
While students generally expect to get a job right after jumping through all the required academic hoops, Mr. Dennie pointed out that it doesn’t always work that way.
He further noted that while students do attain some level of understanding during their school years, they do not become fully qualified until after they have entered and experienced the workplace.
He said “there needs to be a complete shift in the educational paradigm that propagates the message that young people can start thinking about entrepreneurial projects even while in school.”
Without this shift, Dennie said the region would continue to be plagued by high levels of unemployment.
Global Entrepreneurship Week runs from November 17-23 and forms part of the Bridging the Gap project, which is a regional programme funded by Scotiabank.
