[www.inewsguyana.com] – Over 3,000 young people in Hinterland communities throughout the country are to benefit from training in technical vocations and life skills; commencing October 1, 2015.
The one-year programme, will be implemented in three phases and will afford youths the opportunity to get qualified in areas of tourism and hospitality, cake decoration, sewing, electrical instillation, plumbing, mechanical engineering, and carpentry and joinery, according to a release from the Government Information Agency.
Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Valarie Garrido-Lowe, told GINA that the first phase of the programme will consist of theory and some practical, while the second phase will allow the youths to be attached to the Village Council or private enterprise for work study.
“For instance, if you are constructing a hospital or a school in a community, the contractors normally walk with all their skilled personnel. We have to do better than that, we have to equip our youths to get employment when these projects come up, and the only way we can do that is to train them,” Minister Lowe explained.
The youths will also benefit from a stipend of 30,000, and according to Minister Lowe, they will only receive 20,000 from the stipend; 10,000 will be saved and they will have access to this sum at the end of the programme. This will amount to $120,000 for the year in training.
In addition to the stipend, those who are interested in creating their own businesses will receive a small grant to do so. “Not everyone can work in the village or regional office. There will be room for persons to create their own business,” Minister Lowe said. The youths will also be trained in book keeping, accounts, event planning, report writing, along with the skill of their choice.
Once per month there will also be workshops on various issues prevalent amongst youths, including teenage pregnancy, alcohol abuse and Trafficking in Person (TIP).
The Toshaos of the respective communities are tasked to recruit students from their villages to register for the programme.
The programme is designed to equip young people with the skills of a trade of their choice, an opportunity to earn as they learn, and the tools of their trade at the end of their training. They will get an equal opportunity to bid for jobs and projects even as they are being trained.
Additionally, Minister Lowe said that those secondary school students who are qualified to attend higher institutions of learning such at the University of Guyana, Government Technical Institute (GTI) and Carnegie School of Economics will receive scholarships to attend those institutions.
John they cant blog on matters of PROGRESS,remember its Kwamy Mc giving blogging order,
That’s who you pull people out poverty. Not by giving them “hand outs” – the strategy the PPPC used to garner votes. You liberate people through education and training.
BRAVO! BRAVO!
Where are those who hollered that the new government fired 2000 of our native brothers? The new government is training 3000 and paying them the same $30,000/month. Isn’t this a better option than paying the young people to do political work? Where are the ones who were claiming “ethnic cleansing”? Where are you?