THOUGH challenged by school drop-outs, unemployment and drug use, youths of St. Cuthbert’s Mission can make use of the many opportunities provided by the government to further their education.

Bringing this message to the indigenous community located some 11 miles off the Soesdyke-Linden Highway were ministers who share the culture: Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock and Valerie Garrido-Lowe and Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton.

They visited the village also called ‘Pakuri’ on Sunday to receive one-on-one feedback from residents and the Village Council on their challenges and needs.

Speaking to residents at the village benab, Garrido-Lowe sought to convince the residents that education is the gateway out of poverty.

She stated that her ministry is collecting applications for youths interested in attending institutions such as the Government Technical Institute (GTI); the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA); the Guyana Industrial Training Centre (GITC); Burrowes School of Art; the Carnegie School of Home Economics and others.

Furthermore, the ministry provides scholarships for such as well as housing in the $186M Hinterland Student Dormitory at Liliendaal which can house some 100 individuals.

“We’re asking all the youths who would have graduated from secondary school and also the youths who were around for a year or two and need to upgrade themselves, we’re asking you to apply and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs will ensure that you get a scholarship,” she said.

“If you do not have residence where you can stay in Georgetown, do not worry; your government has built a tertiary dorm which can cater for 120 students…you’ll have your own room, your own desk, your own wardrobe, a kitchenette…and government has increased scholarships of indigenous peoples.”

In recent times, 49 indigenous youths have received full scholarships to attend the University of Guyana (UG) during the new academic year beginning September 2019.

Meanwhile, Minister Norton also informed the community that opportunities are also available for youths who have dropped out of school and were unable to complete their secondary education.

“Don’t think that you have to have 12 or 13 CSECs with ones and twos. Not at all; we also cater for the dropouts,” he said.

“There are places, there are chances. There is the Kuru Kuru Training Centre; there is the Sophia Training Centre…the Guyana Youth Corps.”

At the meeting he singled out villager Mr. Leyland Clenkian as a “language champion” for his efforts to preserve the Arawak language in Guyana.

On this note, he established the importance of the preservation of indigenous languages, stating: “We don’t even know the value we have by knowing our own language, so we’ve got to try to improve on it and do everything that is possible. My commendation goes to the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs for promoting our indigenous languages in the year that is dedicated for such by the United Nations.”

Later on during the question-and-answer segment, Clenkian rose to speak about the same concern and requested that he be given time regularly to teach the language at the village’s school.

The ministers extended his vision even further by requesting his participation in its pilot programme to teach primary schoolchildren in Region Nine their native Wapishana language.

Based on the programme’s outcome, the government will be guided on how best to teach other languages like the Arawak language to persons in other parts of the country.

During his speech, Minister Norton also reminded that the Ministry of Social Cohesion was created by the coalition government after recognising an existing disunity amongst people and cultures.

He urged villagers that while they might not share the same ideas, they can decide to unify for the sake of what serves as the best interest of their community.

He commended the village for setting a good example for youths and other communities through its excellent efforts in sports such as football, softball and cricket.

As such, at the end of the meeting, he handed over several items of sports gear and floodlights to the community to enhance physical and social activities.

Also present on Sunday was Chairperson of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Region Four, Genevieve Allen who, much like the others, urged the students and teachers to place greater focus on education and skills development.

She reminded that funds have been set aside in the region’s 2019 budget for the construction of a teachers’ dormitory to facilitate the housing of teachers in the village for improved education.

She highlighted this as she congratulated the students and educators for improvements already witnessed over the years in primary and secondary education.

Allen hopes this will be evident in coming examination results.

“I want to encourage our young people to focus your education on the development of skills and expertise, so that you yourselves can look back over the years to say that ‘I was involved in an initiative that put our community on the map’,” she said.