Georgetown: TCL Guyana Inc. (TGI) and parent company Trinidad Cement Ltd. (TCL) announced the success of its first ‘Learning Academy’ seminar hosted in Guyana. The educational initiative, which focuses on educating tertiary and vocational students on cement and concrete technology, was held (Friday, January 17) at the University of Guyana.
What began over 10 years ago as a series of lectures facilitated by TCL’s Packing Plant Supervisor, Wayne Benjamin (who was at that time a chemist at TCL), has now evolved into a full-fledged academy, coordinated by TCL’s Customer Excellence Officer, Andira Kowlessar and facilitated by the Group’s Civil Engineer, Avaleen Mooloo. Mooloo has lectured in Trinidad at institutions such as The Youth Training Employment and Partnership Programme (YTEPP) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus.
Establishing a region-wide Learning Academy is the goal of the TCL Group, and one, which is shared by Kowlessar and Mooloo. Although their collaboration only began in May 2013, significant strides have already being made towards this feat. Andira Kowlessar describes her experience with the TCL Learning Academy as “a sense of accomplishment” and she is “very eager to take it to the next level.” Avaleen Mooloo mirrored those sentiments when she stated that she is “poised to elevate the Learning Academy to a Caribbean-wide institution that imparts expert cement and concrete knowledge.”
An estimated 30 engineering students from the University of Guyana, from years 1 through 4, were present at the seminar and benefitted from a vast and in-depth curriculum. Topics ranged from the raw material excavation process; the cement manufacturing process; the various types of cement manufactured by the TCL Group as well as the best practices involved in concrete technology. Mooloo also discussed in detail, the advantages of pervious concrete, which she described as an excellent product for flood-prone areas, as it significantly reduces surface flooding; and the Soil Cement Stabilization technique: a procedure that increases the compactness of soil and therefore, can lead to the strengthening of structures such as roadways.
Despite the 3-hour long lecture, students remained attentive and were interactive throughout. Nefertiti Thompson, a first year Civil Engineering student described Mooloo’s presentation as “very informative, eye-opening and refreshing.” Commenting on the level of explanation, Pablo Gomes, also a first year Civil Engineering appreciated that “the lecturer (Mooloo) went through the details quite thoroughly.” The fourth year students present, found added benefit in Mooloo’s lecture as many are in the process of working on final year projects of a Civil Engineering nature. One student in particular, Kimberley Bradford, was quite pleased that her project, Soil Cement Stabilization, was an integral part of Mooloo’s presentation.
The TCL Learning Academy continues to realize progress not only in the lecture rooms, but online as well. In addition to valuable content being provided via TCL’s newly redesigned website, www.tcl.co.tt, a ‘TCL Learning Academy’ Facebook page has also been recently launched at www.facebook.com/TCLLearningAcademy.
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