TWENTY-TWO students from across Guyana, who are the winners of the second Guyana-China Friendship Youth Leadership Development Award competition, were on Friday presented with trophies and US$1,000 each.

A simple award ceremony was held for the students at the Chinese Embassy.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education (MoE), Alfred King, while speaking at the event said that the ministry values the embassy’s partnership, friendship, and engagement.
He noted that through the competition, they hope to create great leaders.

King used the opportunity to emphasise that everything possible will be done to ensure more opportunities are provided for young people to develop great leadership skills.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that we provide more and more for young people, the experiences so that they would develop leadership competencies that would see them serve well…” King related.

The competition comprised a community-based project, a work of art, and a physical fitness challenge, all of which, according to Guo Haiyan, the Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, is beneficial in igniting or deepening participants’ self-awareness.

She told the winners that she believes that the competition serves as a new starting point for their self-awareness and self-realisation. She said that the other reward is the appreciation of another civilisation.

Meanwhile, Kurt Braithwaite, Administrator of the Unit of Allied Arts, said that the theme of the competition was “50 years of friendship and co-operation”.
He said that overall, the competition was an exciting one.

“Learners were very happy to be engaging in competition and in the face-to-face modalities for the first time after COVID-19 had taken us back to our homes,” Braithwaite said.
He explained that it was open to secondary schools across Guyana but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they found that many schools did not participate.

“Several students who wanted to engage in the competition were unable to do so due to some of the circumstances that were being faced. There were several challenges faced by the regional education departments because of some of the factors that we had no control over,” he said.

He related that they were faced with the task of ensuring that parents understood that their best interests were at heart and that the competition was going to take place more safely, following the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 guidelines.

Braithwaite said that during the competition, they saw many skills being exhibited by students.

“They were able to showcase their ideas as to what they want to see in their communities as part of the community project. We were also able to see what their visions are for Guyana moving forward,” he noted.

During the preparation period, students were given the information and were able to showcase various skills such as their artistic talents through song, poetry, dance, martial arts, and also visual arts presentations.

From a number of over 300 applicants, eight were selected from each educational district, and of those eight, two were selected as winners of the competition.