PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has advised the nation’s youths to make the right decisions when choosing a career.
After delivering the charge Thursday at Impress Youth Expo at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC), Liliendaal, the president dropped in on one of the plenary sessions and advised that careful consideration be given to the types of programmes being offered at the University of Guyana. “We have to make sure that the progarmmes are cost effective. If we need 50 engineers for the petroleum sector if we find oil and gas, it might be cheaper to find 50 young people and send them abroad to the best institutions in the world rather than to start a programme here at the university, at the beginning at least, and then may be set up a training institution that will provide the other technical skills for the oil and gas industry,” President Jagdeo explained.
The size of the country’s labour force and the availability of jobs were also matched, and President Jagdeo told the youths about the inevitable truths about UG graduates entering the job market.
“If you finish the University of Guyana in some areas, immediately you get a job. If you finish in other areas, you can’t find a job… a country doesn’t need 500 sociologists so we have to make sure the people that we train match the opportunities too,” President Jagdeo said.

The youths were told about the mistakes many make of turning a blind eye to academic pursuits in science and technology, where President Jagdeo said the future lies.
As he has done on numerous occasions, the Head of State touted the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector as one that is vital to the country’s future, and described it as a platform for the modernisation and transformation agenda of Guyana.
He also explained in detail the corresponding infrastructure necessary for a modern and efficient ICT sector, making reference to the laying of the fibre optic cable from Brazil that will significantly decrease the cost of bandwidth.
With the permanent establishment of such infrastructure, President Jagdeo believes that Guyana’s education will reach a world class level, where children access libraries and information for homework online rather than travel distances to access reading materials.
“The primary purpose is to ensure a good quality education. We feel that if people have quality relevant education, they can generate wealth on their own. They can create jobs on their own, get out of poverty etc,” President Jagdeo said.
The youths were also encouraged to “think outside the box” and along the lines of entrepreneurship. President Jagdeo corroborated his advice telling the story of Microsoft designer Bill Gates and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, both of whom built their careers on ideas. (GINA)