– Agriculture Minister tells GuySuCo training centre graduates
AGRICULTURE Minister Robert Persaud, on Monday, told the 45 graduates of GuySuCo’s Training Centre, Port Mourant (GTC-PM) not to underestimate the importance of the pool of skills they have acquired and that they be leaders of change in the sugar industry. Speaking at the centre’s 50th graduation exercise, at which 12 sugar boilers also graduated, Minister Persaud told them that these skills they acquired are crucial to the development of the country and the sugar industry.
The GTC-PM centre provides for four years of training in career skills such as auto mechanic and machine fitting. The training comprises two years of classroom learning and two years apprenticeship at one of GuySuCo’s estates.
Minister Persaud told the graduates that to get Guyana to the kind of success that the government envisions human resource is vital and it’s for this reason that it has been placing so much emphasis on building the country’s human resource, with particular emphasis on young people.
The country is already facing the effects of an inadequate resource base in terms of the number and the skills needed, he said.
“We do not have the abundance of skills needed to move the industries forward and for these reasons our developments are, in a way, being stifled by this inadequate human resource capacity,” Minister Persaud posited.
Hence, he underscored the need for every single Guyanese to play a part if development is to continue and be accelerated.
Speaking specifically to the sugar industry, Minister Persaud told the graduates that it has been showing positive signs after undergoing challenges over the past five years and stressed the need for these positives signs to be nurtured by those within.
GuySuCo’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rajendra Singh, told the graduates to take the level of discipline they would have acquired whilst at the centre into their respective work environment and to not allow themselves to be dragged into negative activities and encouraged them to stay with the sugar industry.
He said GuySuCo spends $200M per year on training apprentices at the centre and over the past 15 years has only a 20 percent graduate retention. To date, 3000 persons have graduated from the centre.
Several changes will be implemented for 2011 including restructuring of the training programme in an effort to keep abreast with the evolving and expanding society.
Subashchand Mahabir was this year’s best graduating student. (GINA)