Government in its drive to reduce youth unemployment has been providing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to out-of-school youths across the country, under the National Training Programme for Youth Empowerment (NTPYE). The NTPYE is a programme that was launched by President Bharrat Jagdeo in June, 2005.

Graduates display their certificates, while stakeholders and Board members look on.

Twenty-six youths from Region Seven Tuesday graduated from a batch of 32 that was on placement. The training is delivered through a programme of on-the-job attachment along with a short period of classroom sessions, to prepare these youths for employment. The classroom sessions exposed the trainees to related technology and ‘Life Skills Education’.

Chairman of the Board of Industrial Training, Dr. Dale Bisnauth, during the welcome and opening remarks, said the programme is primarily for youths who could not complete their secondary education or did not do well at the examination. This, he said, was their second opportunity to have a skill that would enable them to have a job.

This is the first time the NYPYE programme was held in Region Seven, and it was possible with the help of the local private sector which willingly provided on-the-job training for the recruits.

In his charge to the recruits, he implored them to use their skill to develop the national resources and to grow as deep as the country would allow, and to go as high as it is possible for them to go. The graduates were reminded that they are currently on the road to where they want to go. They were told that learning and discipline become knowledge, and knowledge leads to wisdom; as such they should use their training as a stepping stone and they should learn not only how to be a self starter, but also how to be team players.

Programme Coordinator Coreen Connelly pointed out that the 26 young people were trained in 10 fields which saw 12 entities involved. Some of the areas of training were Clerical, Dental Assistant, Nurse Aide, Mechanical, Cosmetology, Carpentry and Medical Laboratory Assistant. This batch of graduates comprised 13 males and 13 females.

Some of the graduates already have prospects of employment from their trainers. It was pointed out that life skills are important in terms of developing the right attitude. They also motivate persons and allow them to think about how they should behave on the job.

Gerald Joseph, Chairman of the NDC, pointed out that Guyana was once a country that was known across the region for providing the best skills training. He pointed out that there is a lack of discipline among young people and that life skill training must show that discipline is important. He stated that the culture of indiscipline is interfering with the output of most departments.

Regional Chairman Holbert Knights expressed his delight at the high rate of completion, which he said is testimony to the realiaation of the importance of the training. He noted that the RDC does its best to support the Education Department, noting that the bulk of its budget goes towards education, but education should also teach the youths to meet the demands of technology.

He noted that an important ingredient to success among youths is the presence of parents in their lives, noting that the presence of parents ensures success. He further went on to say that “a nation without education will not survive in this world.”

Knights noted that Bartica is seeing unprecedented levels of development in terms of infrastructure and the skills acquired can go to help in the building of the community. He pleaded with the graduates to feed their hunger for education with technology, and told them they should adopt a culture of creating their own employment.

The NTPYE programme has a duration of six months and the number targeted for this year is 1,750. This is the third graduation exercise for this year; 168 youths graduated from Region One and 43 from Region Four in June. (GINA)