EIGHT hundred and eight persons, who did not complete secondary education, graduated from the Ministry of Labour National Training Project for Youth Empowerment (NTPYE) on Wednesday. Following the graduation ceremony, themed ‘Reducing Youth Unemployment’, at the National Cultural Centre, on Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, the graduates, from Regions Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) and Four (Demerara/Mahaica), are now in a position to bargain for better pay and working conditions.

Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir, delivering the feature address, said the graduating class was the largest in the history the NTPYE and included 179 single parents.
He said, at the beginning of 2010, Government had planned to graduate 4,000 and has not fallen short of its target, as close to that number had previously graduated and approximately 1,000 more are still in training.
Mr. Nadir said the government’s goal is to take more people through the school system and he urged the trained persons to stay on one job and gain experience, instead of moving from job to job with the hope of securing better earnings.
He encouraged them to visit the website www.crma-gy.com and apply for jobs that are advertised online.
Region Four Chairman, Mr. Clement Corlette remarked that, by participating in the training programmes, the students sought to assume their future responsibilities.
He observed that the scheme, which offers training in technical and other skills, helped to make the trainees into marketable agents for the world of work.
Corlette challenged those trained to use the knowledge they have gained to develop themselves and the country, as a whole and not to give up when things go wrong.
He said he would like to know how many people have, so far, gained employment and or started their own businesses following their involvement in the training programmes.
Region Three Chairman, Mr. Julius Faerber commended the students for participating and acknowledged that the Government has made them marketable for the world of work.
Present at the function, too, were Chairman of the Board of Industrial Training (BIT), Dr. Dale Bisnauth and NTPYE Project Coordinator, Ms. Coreen Connelly.