First Lady Sandra Granger on Tuesday morning said that she was pleased to launch the nationally certified programme, the Information and Communication Technology workshop, at the Bina Hill Institute Youth Learning Centre (YLC), Region Nine(Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
The First Lady urged the 34 participants to capitalise on the opportunity to learn and use the skills that they would gain to develop their community.
“I always say I do not want to conduct a workshop where people get a piece of paper and at the end of it, to put in a drawer. The workshop must lead to the certification that leads to development and employment for the people who take part in it, and those people will be young people like yourselves or women [and] older people, who do the child care and senior care workshop,” Granger is quoted by the Ministry of the Presidency’s Public Information and Press Services Unit as saying.
Meanwhile, Principal of the Institute, Dr Laureen Pierre said that she too was pleased that the First Lady has brought the programme, first of its kind, to the Institute. She noted that although the institution has done well over the years and has produced qualified graduates, it has struggled with acquiring accreditation and attracting accredited programmes.
“This training programme, as we are told, offers that. This is a new beginning for the YLC and I want to say thank you to the First Lady for taking the initiative of moving us along,” she said.
Dr Pierre also noted that the Institute was receiving much support from the Government, and that for 2019, it received a subvention of over $50 million.
The three-week-long workshop, which is being conducted in collaboration with the Social Protection Ministry’s Board of Industrial Training (BIT), will also include information on STEM Robotics and Microenterprise.
