Reducing school dropouts… Both parties satisfied with joint Guyana/US jobs SKYE scheme
MINISTER of Labour, Dr. Nanda Kishore Gopaul has lauded the United States Agency for International Development/Guyana Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment (SKYE) project.

Speaking to a gathering at Regency Suites Hotel, Hadfield Street, Georgetown on Thursday, he noted that government is committed to working towards the elimination of unemployment among youths in Guyana.
Dr Gopaul said the scheme will play a very important role in the lives of youths living within vulnerable communities throughout the country.
“We believe that this will be very useful for my ministry, since we have been working overtime in dealing with this issue that has been affecting young people in vulnerable communities, especially those who dropped out of school,” Gopaul said.
He said he values this exercise because of the involvement and nature of the methodology, which has been adopted for what must be seen as of tremendous benefit to Guyana.
The minster pointed to the various programmes that are being undertaken by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) which targets youths and employment in Guyana.

7,000 jobs
These, he said, have created more than 7,000 jobs for young people over the last five years, and those skills based programmes have created employment for a lot of young people and have seen them flourishing into young entrepreneurs in this country.
According to him, “Last year, dozens of students graduated in heavy duty engineering. On the day of the graduation, we had word that these persons were already hired with various organisations.”
Dr Gopaul assured that the Ministry will continue to target school dropouts in depressed communities countrywide and endorsed any such initiative that is being undertaken.
Sharing a success story he said a group of youths who are skilled in the area of block making, approached him and the Minster of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Jennifer Webster to provide funding/assistance for a business venture.
He said their request was granted and, one year after, the enterprise was flourishing. “The business was demanding and, within one year of its start-up, they contacted the Ministry to find out if there was any old vehicle to sell, because they needed to transport their blocks.”
As a result of this positive approach, which was successful, the Ministry started to help more persons.
Dr Gopaul encouraged young people to ensure that they are educated, even if it means attaining up to secondary education.

School dropouts
“We want to discourage young people from dropping out of school…we, at the Ministry, have embarked on a survey to see why there is such frequent school dropouts and solutions in correcting this,” he stated.
Gopaul said it was found that some of the reasons are financial and, as such, the Ministry, in conjunction with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), started a programme on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway which provides transportation and meals for students.
He said it has seen a drastic increase in the school attendance in the area, from under 50 percent to between 80 and 90 percent.
He said despite some hiccups along the line, with regards to the programme, it was still made a successful venture.
“This points to the direction that, in very many areas, students and parents need to be assisted and we will continue to help to ensure that every child has a secondary education,” Gopaul undertook.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Mr. Brent Hardt expressed satisfaction with the partnerships that have been created to advance the SKYE initiative under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) to enhance the safety and security of citizens in Guyana, like the rest of the Caribbean.
He said the USAID/Guyana SKYE project, a core component of the CBSI, seeks to reduce the vulnerability of Guyanese youth to crime and violence and create new opportunities for employment and positive contributions to Guyana.

Enabling youths
The diplomat said the SKYE scheme, through the dedicated work of over 20 mentors, is working hard at strengthening an environment to facilitate youth development; supporting reintegration of high-risk populations and, importantly, enabling youths to find employment or start their own businesses; and encouraging greater engagement among young people as Guyanese citizens.
“Today, we have come together to review and validate USAID’s initial assessment of labour market conditions in Guyana,” the envoy said.
He said this assessing, which supplements previous assessments of the Guyana Government and the Private Sector, is a crucial tool for the SKYE as they seek to identify promising avenues for employment for young people in Guyana.
The SKYE project targets Regions Four (Demerara/Mahaica), Six (East Berbice/Corentyne), Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) and Ten (Upper Demerara/Berbice) and Hardt said it will be a particularly useful tool as Guyana ensures that the preparation of youths for the labour market is responsive to the existing demands.
“Understanding the labour market, its opportunities and requirements is indispensible for understanding how workers can best refine their skills to meet market driven realities,” he observed.
He said, to this end, the assessment has also identified the projected demand for labour within the next three years and targeted those sectors where new enterprise development may be most viable.