THIS year 379 students have successfully graduated from the  Youth Entrepreneurial Skills Training Programme (YEST).The graduates all hail from either the Kuru Kuru, Sophia or Vryman’s Erven Training Centres.

Two hundred and sixty two students managed to successfully graduate from the Kuru Kuru Training Centre, 92 from the Sophia Training Centre and 25 from the Vryman’s Erven Training Centre in New Amsterdam, Berbice.

This year marks the 16th year of the YEST programme at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre and the 28th year at the Vryman’s Erven and Sophia Training Centres.

As students – teens and young adults – the move away from family and acquaintances (especially for the live-in students at Kuru Kuru) had required some adjustments. However, their presence there, at the graduation, was said to be proof that they had adjusted, grown and succeeded.

At the graduation ceremony held Friday, Ms. Leslyn Boyce, Assistant Director of Youth, in her YEST course report, noted that the programme promotes positive youth development. She said it aids unskilled and unemployed youths, between the ages of 16-25, and provides these opportunities to youths from all 10 regions.

Ms. Boyce noted that the students educated at these facilities were said to have benefitted from a wide range of vocational courses ranging from Business Studies, Plumbing and Sheet Metal, Cosmetology, and Masonry, just to name a few. In addition to these specialised skills training, all students benefitted from remedial Mathematics and English Language, Entrepreneurship and Information Technology classes.
Twenty two students at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre were able to receive their driver’s licences through a Drivers Education Programme.
She also noted that the programme, which lasted for 10 months for the residential students of Kuru Kuru or six months for the non-residential students of Vryman’s Erven and Sophia, though stringent, was not one of all work and no play. She said that the students were given a monthly stipend, had many recreational activities, took part in a few workshops and in the S.T.E.M fair and were exposed to many other things. Students also engaged in Project Management training.
She also said that the students were given work attachments at certain organisations. Here she noted, that some of the students were even offered permanent jobs at the places where they did their work study. Challenges were indeed not left out of the mix, and Ms. Boyce noted that some of these included inadequate staff, the lack of birth certificates and ID cards and a number of students dropping out. These challenges, she noted, will be remedied.

Minister within the Ministry of Education, Nicolette Henry, in her feature address, motivated the students and tried to mentally prepare them for the world of work. She said, “There will be challenges” but went on to say, “you will have to translate what you have learned here to those challenges.” She left them with several charges and sought to reassure them that “Rome was not built in a day”.

A valedictorian speech was also given by Jerome Abrams, Valedictorian of the Sophia Training Centre, and he did not fail to express his gratitude for the “second chance” given to him and his fellow graduates. Daniel Hinds was the Valedictorian of the Kuru Kuru Training Centre and Khadija Kamara from the Vryman’s Erven Training Centre.

YEST is a Technical/Vocational Education and Training (TVET) scheme managed by the Ministry of Education,Department of Culture, Youth and Sport. This programme shares partnerships with many governmental and non-governmental organisations to give selected students an opportunity to be edified.

This year’s graduation hosted less graduates than the 433 batch of last year. The graduation was held at the National Cultural Centre and on International Youth Skills Day.