A GINA feature

For the thousands of youths across the country, who for whatever circumstance did not get the opportunity to complete their secondary education, the Youth Entrepreneurial Skills Training (YEST) programme, has become a critical component, to their realising their full potential and living a meaningful life.

For youths like Sharon Joseph, who hails from Region 7 (Cuyuni/ Mazaruni), this programme will enable her to acquire much needed skills, that her village is at present without.
Joseph is among the current batch of 215 students completing the 2014-2015 programme, at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre.
“I am here doing Business Studies, because in my village there are hardly any business people around, so that is the main reason why I had to choose the area, (and) right now I am studying and trying my best, so when I finish, I can be a successful business woman,” Joseph told the Government Information Agency (GINA) during a recent interview at the centre.
The Government of Guyana has focused on moving the country to a developed state, as over the years, much emphasis have been placed on education, as a tool to build the workforce and to take the country forward. Skills training was long recognised and rolled out, to ensure that every Guyanese is able to contribute to the future development of the country, including the youths who did not complete or maybe did not excel at the secondary school level.

YEST became a unit under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in the year 2000. The unit emerged from what was formerly the Guyana National Service, utilising the resources available to combine skills training and entrepreneurship, as one way of enhancing the employment potential of young people, who had left the school system and needed to be gainfully occupied.
This programme offers remedial Mathematics and English for youths, technical skills training, apprenticeship attachment for a period of four weeks, and a stipend of $ 4000 per month. Over 3000 youths were trained since the birth of YEST.

The programme is offered at the Kuru Kuru Trainig Centre (KKTC), Sophia Training Centre (STC), Smythfield Drop-in Centre/Vryman’s Erven and the New Opportunity Corps (NOC). KKTC and the Sophia centre are the two main training institutions.

KKTC and STC
The programme is offered as residential at KKTC for a period of 10 months and non-residential at the STC for six months. Students

between the ages 16 to 25 years must apply and complete an entry level test for admission to this programme, which caters for 250 students at KKTC and over 100 students at STC.
Students at KKTC learn a variety of technical skills including in the areas of Business Management and Information Technology, Welding and Fabrication, Carpentry, Motor Mechanics, Plumbing, Electrical Installation, Garment Construction, Furniture Making, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning and Masonry, while additionally Handicraft, Home Management and Catering are offered at the STC. The students have the benefit of drama classes and the opportunity to visit places of interest at the STC, while they participate in several cultural and sporting activities at the KKTC.

One 18-year-old, Region Three youth, Zeikel Hinds expressed his views on receiving this opportunity to fulfill his dreams.  “I have been here for four months, studying business, because it was my dream to design software. From KKTC, I will go to the Government Technical Institute (GTI) and then attend the University of Guyana (UG), to get a degree/diploma in Computer Science,” he said.
A Plumbing and Sheet Metal student, Stephanie Jeffery, shared her experience at the KKTC.  “I have been here since October 2014, and the experience is great, because coming here, I am learning to be a plumber, and it has changed my life pertaining to classroom … it is wonderful… at least I have something to remember about the KKTC and something to take back home, to teach and share with my community. Also I would encourage anyone to come here, because it makes you a better person for tomorrow; my future plan, when I finish here, is to go back home and get a good job,” she said.

A new course has also been added to the KKTC which is driving. Students can now acquire their Driver’s Licence, as two police officers are attached to the school, to instruct in the driving class. In 2014, 28 students received their Driver’s Licence in 2014 from the KKTC.
Additionally, a CUSO-VSO volunteer from Canada is also working along with the staff and students, to create a strategic plan, in order to improve the quality and standards of the centre. CUSO-VSO is one of North America’s largest development agencies that work through volunteers.
Assistant Director of Youth (ag), Brian King said the children are being trained in entrepreneurship. Representatives from the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) are lecturing them on how this will help them to lead a more successful life. At the Smythfied Drop-in Centre/Vryman’s Erven Centre, New Amsterdam, youths participate in short programmes, done in collaboration with NGOs and other social organisations. The nature of these programmes requires no entry level test, since they are primarily practical courses. Also here, a six month course is offered in Information Technology, for out-of-school youths, and a monthly stipend is also paid to these students
At the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) on the Essequibo Coast which is a full time training centre for juvenile offenders, vocational skills-training is available in Electrical Installation, Handicraft, Tailoring, Information Technology, Welding and Fabrication, Carpentry, Masonry and Joinery. Academic classes are held here too, and selected students attend school in the community.
Certificates are awarded at the conclusion of training courses. The objective of all training is to primarily prepare participants for entry into other institutions of learning; employment in private or public sector; and self-employment in their communities.