OVER 80 young people from across Guyana are expected to participate in the Parliament of Guyana’s 7th annual youth parliament.
This was said on Friday by coordinators of the programme who met with the media corps in the Parliament Chamber at Parliament Buildings, Georgetown.

According to Parliamentary Executive Officer, Carlleta Charles, the Youth Parliament programme started in 2015 under the institution and later stood on its own to be hosted each year during the National Assembly’s recess period in August.

This year’s programme, she said, will be held from August 12 to 18 in a hybrid format, which will first see the youth parliamentarians engaged in virtual training sessions. Subsequently, sittings of their parliament will be held physically in the parliament chamber.

A total of 86 youths are set to participate: 40 of those are in the junior category and 46 are in the senior category.
This, she said, is the greatest number of participants that they have had since the start of the youth parliament.

The Clerk of Committee, Sereeta Bethune, said that as this is the biggest cohort of youth parliamentarians, the junior category comprises students from both public and private secondary schools across all 11 education districts in Guyana.

There are also young participants who are part of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s Young Influencers programme.
In the senior category, there are participants from the Speakers National Debating competition, the University of Guyana (UG), technical institutes across Guyana, and, for the first time, the University of the West Indies (UWI).

“We also expanded to include [the] University of the West Indies because of interest expressed by Guyanese students,” Bethune said.
This year’s Youth Parliament is expected to be bigger and better, according to Public Relations Officer Yannick December.

He noted that the Parliament Office is always trying to do better each year with the programme and further bring parliament to the people.
During the seven-day programme, the youth parliamentarians will be exposed to training in relation to parliamentary etiquette and decorum; the roles of Members of Parliament; branches of government; public speaking and the drafting of motions.

The training for the drafting of motions will equip the participants to draft their own motions, based on the topics that they would like to discuss.
Participants in this year’s programme have already met virtually and have been categorized into the categories of “government” and “opposition.”