00:00Tertiary Education Minister Senator Prakash Pissad says engineering must never lose sight of its true purpose, improving people's lives.
00:10Addressing engineers, academics and industry leaders at the APET Technical Conference 2026,
00:16the minister reflected on a student project at UTT that changed one engineer's perspective forever.
00:24He came up to me and said, sir, when we installed the bars in the primary school,
00:30and a child came up to me and said, this makes me so happy that we have this bar.
00:34He says, the first time I understood what engineering is about, improving the lives of people, making people happy.
00:40The minister said as Trinidad and Tobago prepares for infrastructure revitalization and an energy transition,
00:47the country must also rethink technical and tertiary education.
00:52He argued that practical skills, training and university education should no longer operate separately.
01:00Would you like a doctor who knows, you know, all the medical terms and parts of the body theoretically,
01:09but they don't have no surgical skills?
01:11Would you go by them?
01:13So what I'm saying, education and skills should go hand by hand, hand in hand.
01:18Minister Prasad also pushed for greater respect and recognition for technicians and craftsmen,
01:24saying technical career paths should be valued equally alongside traditional academic roots.
01:31For too long, we think that technicians are people, you know, who are less competent,
01:38you know, academically than engineers, etc.
01:44And I think we need to start this conversation, that technicians are just as important as engineers.
01:51He also warned that the country could not afford to wait for technological change before preparing its workforce.
01:59We have to prepare the workforce.
02:01We must not allow the future to happen to us.
02:03We must take steps to design it and make what we want of it.
02:07Prasad also called for stronger collaboration between universities, industry, government and communities,
02:15saying research and innovation must directly address national problems.
02:20And as climate change and technological disruption continue to reshape the region,
02:26he urged engineers to remain adaptable and committed to lifelong learning.
02:31Technology has changed so much, and particularly in the engineering field,
02:37that if we don't keep up to date, we become totally irrelevant.
02:41The APAD Technical Conference 2026 brought together engineers, educators and policy makers
02:47under the theme, Engineering of Future, Sustainable, Smart, Resilient.
02:53Arvashita Mwari Rupnarain, TV6 News.
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