-under community action component
Enhancing the lives and employment possibilities of today’s youth continues to be high on government’s agenda; and in furtherance of this goal, the Ministry of Home Affairs, under the ambit of the Citizen Security Programme’s community action component, Friday graduated 36 young people from the Sophia housing scheme in very diverse and skilled areas. Officiating at the graduation ceremony was Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, who urged the excited graduates not to let this be the end of their learning journey and to go out into the world of work and give of their best.
“The government would like to have trained as many young people as possible in life skills, this is the policy of the government,” the minister told the gathering of trained young people, trainers and supportive family members.

Programmes of a similar nature are carried out by the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport; Guyana Police Force; Ministries of Labour, Human Services and Finance; and the Guyana Defence Force, and are being held throughout Guyana, Minister Rohee told the gathering.
The courses that the young people were trained in over the six – month period were cosmetology, computer repair, electrical installation, food preparation and service, plumbing, joinery, masonry and welding.
The programmes target individuals who may not have done well in school and those who may have dropped out, but are willing to achieve life skills to help them function as effective and competent members of society, the minister said.

“Irrespective of where this training would take place, the Government of Guyana is always satisfied when young people are graduating with a skill that will take them through life.”
Further expressing government’s commitment to human development in the country, the minister stated that at the end of training sessions such as these, many possibilities will open up.
“That is why we have to work very aggressively to encourage more private sector development, encourage more investment in the country”, he said.
“That’s why the government has to do more infrastructural work, physical infrastructure, social infrastructure, building more schools, building more hospitals… so that opportunities could be opened up.”
He also urged them to look towards the private entities and see what they have to offer in the areas they have been trained.

Several of the clearly exuberant graduates were eager to express their appreciation for the opportunity afforded them at a second chance in life, for some, and for others, an opportunity to go onto higher learning and better job prospects.
The second batch of trainees will be starting their training very soon and many of the onlookers from within the community expressed an interest in taking up the challenge to learn more and better their own chances at employment. (GINA)