…Henry outlines micro-enterprise scheme

By Ravin Singh
MINISTER within the Ministry of Education Nicolette Henry in defending Budget 2016 has announced that a permanent structure for entrepreneurship and micro-lending, geared to benefit youths, will be established.Provision for youths, she said, is the first step towards empowering them.
Guyana has over the years, recorded high unemployment rates, which had been a trickle-down effect of school dropout and school absenteeism.
Just last year, a Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) study revealed that youth unemployment in Guyana was hovering around 40 per cent.
And having touted youth empowerment heavily during the 2015 election campaign, Henry is of the conviction that this maiden full-year budget of the Coalition Government is geared towards supporting youths in all spheres of life.
“This budget provides the resources necessary to begin to utilise a holistic approach and to surmount the challenges faced by our young people,” the minister said.
It also provides for a pilot project in early childhood education.
This project will also provide valuable information which can be studied and used as the basis to support the launching of a national early childhood education programme.
Additionally, it will also provide the opportunity for young parents to go out and work, while being assured that their children will be well taken care of.
And while she hinted that early childhood education centres will be built, Minister Henry noted that these will be done to international standards.
“This, together with the reforms being undertaken in the education system, will go a far way in ensuring we produce the kind of youths this Government envisions,” she added.
But while the capacity of the education system is not limited to formal training, the Education Minister noted that the budget makes provisions for training and counselling of young people who have not benefitted from within or outside of the formal system.
Over the last two decades, many young people have fallen out of the formal education system.
Aside from this, she said a permanent structure will be erected for entrepreneurship and micro-lending for persons under age 30 through a special Youth Investment Fund.
This is expected to propel youths who are skilled to realise their true potential, thereby contributing meaningfully to their homes, communities and country.
The National Youth Policy will also soon be unveiled. The high-anticipated document which will aid in youth empowerment has been completed under the APNU+AFC Government.
But not limited to just this policy, the Government is working towards completing a National Youth Empowerment Action Plan (NYEAP), which will be crafted following broad-based consultations with youths throughout Guyana.
Also in Budget 2016, some $60M has been allocated for the rehabilitation of the Coldigen workshop into a training centre.
In addition, $30M was allocated to improve the facilities at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre at Soesdyke. The Education Sector got $40M, the largest slice of Budget 2016.