OVER the past four years, the Government of Guyana has been steadfast in its commitment to ensuring youths and all Guyanese are equipped with the necessary skills for employment across various sectors.
In their 2020 manifesto, they promised to promote skills training by increasing technical and vocational training, and apprenticeship schemes, and remove value added tax on data and establish online training programmes countrywide.

Within four years, the government through key sectoral agencies, has done this and more for Guyanese by launching initiatives such as the Women’s Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN) programme through the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security; the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarship through the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Service, and enhancing and expanding programmes offered by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) through the Ministry of Labour.
In an effort to bring awareness to these programmes in Mocha, a youth outreach was held on Saturday at the Mocha Primary School, East Bank Demerara, where a group of persons gathered to register for courses offered for free through these programmes.

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Sonia Parag attended the outreach and stated that the government aims to bring such initiatives to communities. She emphasised that these programs are not solely for youth; they are open to anyone who believes they can acquire a technical skill or academic qualification.
She said, “We’re empowering as we go along, which is the aim of all of this, and to build the human capacity and the human resource capacity that we want. So, these kinds of trainings are targeted towards that, and I’m sure that Mocha will not be the last community that is benefitting from this.”

As they move forward, Minister Parag stated that they will focus on engaging different communities to encourage self-development. She highlighted that while many training opportunities are available through these programs, it’s essential to involve more individuals so that both communities and the country can reap the benefits of these skills.
She also noted the significant number of women enrolling in programs like heavy-duty equipment training through BIT, as well as initiatives through GOAL and WIIN specifically designed for women.

Minister Parag added that several communities have already benefitted from such initiatives, enabling individuals to work in the private sector and become self-employed. Examples include Den Amstel in Region Three, Tiger Bay in Georgetown, and Cotton Tree in Region Five, among others.
“This very Mocha also benefitted the previous years from not only WIIN, but BIT and as well as IT training. And right after the IT training through the Ministry of Public Service, when I was there, we had provided jobs. On the spot jobs to persons who completed the IT training with Qualfon. So I think about 16 persons were able to get employment right after. So the point is to get not only get persons to the point of being trained, but get them to a point as well where they can be absorbed into the world of employment,” she said.