President urges that they play important role in development
One hundred and twenty-two students, including 10 at the post- graduate level, and 65 doctors, who successfully completed studies overseas, graduated yesterday at the National Culture Centre (NCC) on Homestretch and Mandela Avenue, Georgetown.

The graduates pursued studies in Agronomy, Architecture, Auto Mechanic Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Forestry Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering, Culture, Veterinary Medicine, Chemistry and Human Medicine at the first degree.

And post graduate studies in Human Medicine, Crop and Food Production, Environmental Change and Management, Hydraulic Engineering, Water Resource Management, Environmental Science and Engineering, Civil Engineering, Medical Physics and Environmental Studies.

Studies at the latter level were undertaken in Trinidad, the United Kingdom, Mexico, China, Canada and India, while those at the first degree level were done in Cuba, Brunei and China.

Addressing the 2009 annual graduation ceremony, President Bharrat Jagdeo lauded the graduates on their achievements and underscored they have an important role to play in furthering the development of their country.

He urged the graduates to perform their duties with honour, dedication and commitment, as this spirit is required in taking Guyana forward.

The Government, he said, demands no less; and on that score, he urged them to focus on their work, not to allow persons preoccupied with negativity to think for them and not fall into a mode of laziness.

The Guyanese Head of State reminded the students that Guyana is a country for all its citizens, and they must guard against becoming victims of ethnic and religious cliques, but rather must embrace their countrymen with love, dignity and respect.

He stressed that despite the current challenges facing Guyana, there is a bright future ahead and the graduates should be exited about these prospects.

Mr. Jagdeo said challenges are part and parcel of the developmental process, and the graduates must develop the willpower to overcome them, to become tougher, stronger individuals.

He encouraged the scholars to have a positive frame of mind in their work, as failure in this regard can spell the beginning of the end of their careers.

Today, the President said, Guyana is better-off than it was 10 years ago, and the graduates should put their shoulders to the wheel to make their country significantly better 10 years from now.

He said in light of the global financial crisis, with millions of people in the United States and other parts of the world losing their jobs and homes, Guyana was not affected to this magnitude because of the Government’s sound economic policies.

In fact, Mr. Jagdeo pointed out, the Government has embarked on a massive housing programme aimed at enabling all Guyanese to have homes of their own.

He said too that the Government intends to take health care to the community level and is working assiduously to transform the agriculture sector.

The graduates, the President said, must adopt a broad view of their profession as they have a critical role to play in these reforms.

Public Service Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford also lauded the achievements of the graduates and praised too the support of their families in ensuring their success.

She expressed gratitude to the Cuban Government for being a long time partner in the training of local students, despite the economic constraints of the US imposed trade embargo on the island.

Dr. Westford pointed out that Guyana’s partnership with the Cubans, which began in 1966, has ever since grown from strength to strength, noting that barring the 150 students who will be returning home in another four weeks, 752 are now studying in Cuba.

Though the relationship has not been as long as the one with Cuba, Mexico, the minister said, has been another partner in the area of human resources training.

She said Guyana is not only interested in sending its students abroad to be trained, but will soon be receiving students from these countries to pursue studies in English at the University of Guyana.

Dr. Westford urged the graduates to be at the forefront of Guyana’s developmental trust, as they have received the best training possible.

“Don’t make our hands fall, we want you to make us proud as we are proud of you,” the minister appealed.

The graduation ceremony coincided with the 83rd birthday of the living legendary Cuban revolutionary hero and former President Fidel Castro, and in a fitting tribute to hail the occasion, the audience stood and sang a happy birthday song for him.

Cuban Charge D’ Affairs to Guyana Mr. Pedro Artheaga Cardanas, and Mexican Ambassador Fernando Sandoval, also addressed the gathering.

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, government ministers, other government functionaries and members of the diplomatic were also in the audience.