MINISTER of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence yesterday urged parents to parents to support their children in every step of the way, insisting that the saying “from the womb to the tomb” is still relevant. Lawrence made the call while addressing a graduation ceremony for some 41 persons who completed various courses under the Board of Industrial Training (BIT)’s National training project for

youth empowerment. The graduation was for Region four (Demerara/Mahaica) which saw 41 persons graduating after six months of training in catering, welding, fabrication and also Information Technology.
After noticing that there was a lack of parental support at the ceremony held at the Eccles Youth Skills and Information Technology Training Centre, East Bank Demerara, the minister issued the call for more support from parents as they play a key part in the future of their child/children. She underscored that the fact that the youths took a decision not to stay home, but do something beneficial is enough to have brought their parents out at the graduation.
Lawrence nevertheless, encouraged the graduates to move forward with their skills and not be bogged down by the lack of CSEC or University of Guyana certification. She also urged the graduates to contribute to the growth of the economy, given the fact that knowing a skill empowers and allows them to participate as equally as academically inclined persons when it comes to this.
“A skill is one of the defining elements in our country’s growth, therefore, a relationship ought to be developed between educational, skills and employment… work can’t be done unless there is skilled people,” said Minister Lawrence. Additionally, the minister said she will be reviewing the training opportunities being offered by BIT so that more areas could be added and more persons could be trained in various fields. Meanwhile, the trainers for the various disciplines spoke about their challenges and also the satisfaction in imparting their knowledge to the graduates. Graduates also shared their experiences, with some noting that it was not easy, but they learnt a lot given the fact that some of them did not even want to pursue the field they practiced.
According to BIT’s Technical Officer, Richard Maughn the programme has been in existence for many years with a large number of persons benefiting from it.