HAVING come from among the first batch of apprentices at the Guysuco Training Centre, Port Mourant, Jainarine Sookpaul has maintained that pride over the years and worked his way up in the sugar industry to attain the position as manager of the Centre for the past 10 years.

Sookpaul spent two years in the field of Electrical/Instrumentation after which he worked for five years at Albion Sugar Estate, following his graduation in 1994.

He was then seconded to the Guysuco Training Centre as an Instructor and then he was promoted to manager at the facility which has a world-class machinery workshop.

Being a product of the very training centre, Sookpaul is very aware of the acquired skill to control and process instrumentation to replace humans without the possibility of errors and down-time.

The resident of Free Yard, Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice and the father of three reported that the area was a central hub and there was no need for him to relocate since his office was a street away and everything else was within reach it was very convenient for him.

Sookpaul told the Pepperpot Magazine that Berbice was on the rise and a site had since been identified for the Oil and Gas School and the Hospitality and Tourism Institute in Port Mourant.

“Directly the Guysuco Training Centre provides 80 percent of skilled employees for ExxonMobil as well as the sugar industry and we are a machine producing skilled workers that are cream of the crop, so to speak,” he said.

The Guysuco Training centre was established in 1957 to train workers in technical skills for the sugar estates.

Sookpaul added that to participate in the four-year apprenticeship programme with the Guysuco Training Centre you must be sponsored by a master of an estate and must be within the age of 15 to 17 years old.

He explained that they would campaign at schools across the country and distribute application forms for the apprenticeship programme at the Guysuco Training Centre.

Sookpaul stated that once the candidates fill out the application form, they are then invited to write an entrance examination followed by an interview once they are successful at the examination.

He reported that every two years they seek to recruit 65 applicants where they would be required to live-in at the hostel and spend two years at the workshop for hands-on training in the field of air conditioning, refrigeration, electrical installation, motor vehicle service and repair, welding and fabrication, and heavy-duty equipment operator.

Sookpaul noted that the apprentice must spend two years at the workshop and another two years at his/her sponsor estate.

He disclosed an apprentice starts their day at 04:00hrs and will engage in training at the workshop from 07:00hrs to 11:00hrs, then from midday to 16:00hrs daily.

Sookpaul disclosed that since its establishment the Guysuco Training Centre has ‘churned out’ a total of 3430 skilled sugar workers.

The Guysuco Training Centre has the 1924 Rolls Royce which is in good condition and in working order, the apprentices also made from scratch a go-cart named Hot Rod and it is still in use, both on display and used for special occasions.

Of all the sugar estates in Berbice only Albion and Blairmont are still operational while Skeldon and Rose Hall are closed.

The Guysuco Training Centre has 29 staffers in total and it is a well-kept workshop outfitted with all machinery required to produce skilled workers with safety guidelines in mind.

Sookpaul told the Pepperpot Magazine that he is committed to serving his community and the sugar industry which the people depend on so heavily for their livelihood.

He related that his father was a sugar worker until he turned taxi driver of a Morris Oxford car and they too were locals of Free Yard, Port Mourant.