-to Labour Ministry’s ‘Job Fair’
THE LABOUR Department of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services, and Social Security, in its quest to improve on the services it provides, has over the period March 10 to 13 conducted three job fairs in Region Six as part of its outreach programme to provide access to training and employment opportunities.
The exercise, which was led by Labour Minister, Mr Manzoor Nadir, follows similar activities that were held in Regions Three, Four and Seven during last year.
The fairs, which were established at three locations, namely Fact Building, in Corriverton; Spready’s Supermarket at Port Mourant; and Danzie’s Shoe Store in New Amsterdam provided residents, especially those seeking employment, the opportunity to access training, employment opportunities, and counselling and testing for HIV and AIDS.
Participants were also given a chance to learn about the Ministry’s Labour Laws, especially as they pertain to Overtime, Holidays with Pay, Safety and Health Protocols, and Child Labour.
The Ministry’s various departments, including the Board of Industrial Training (BIT), Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRNM), Labour Occupational Safety and Health and HIV/AIDS were engaged in this aspect.
Asked to comment during the course of the exercise, Minister Nadir explained that the initiative started in 2009 with the Labour Department taking its services to the public so as to allow for a greater response than it would have using paid advertisements.
“If you got a half-a-million-dollar advertising campaign in the media, we don’t get that kind of response… And more particularly for us, it allows our service to be easily accessible to people,” he said.
He said that thus far, the exercise has received overwhelming response from citizens, and that with the help of local television programming, the work that the Ministry is undertaking on the ground will further reinforced.
He noted that a survey conducted recently on the services being offered by government agencies, especially as it relates to training, has found that many persons are unaware that such  services even exist, much less that they are open to the public.
“It reinforces the position that we have taken to go out to people and promote more of the services,” Minister Nadir said, adding: “In fact, in the age-group we have targeted for youth employment, it says close to 65 per cent of the people are young people who these programmes should reach, but they don’t know about them… We are heartened that Berbicians in particular… have been actively coming out to register for jobs, training, getting tested and to generally pick up information of the services that are available by the labour portfolio.”
This year, he said, the Ministry will seek to train 2,500 people, of which 2000 will be trained under the NTPYE programme, and another 500 under the single parents programme. The Ministry is expected to achieve these targets this year, the Minister said.
He is also urging Non-Governmental, Youth and Faith-based Organisations to encourage persons to take advantage of the service made available by the Ministry.
“We are again opening an invitation to NGOs, Youth, Faith-based Organisations and any civil organisation… If you have similar programme, get in touch with us and let us see how we can complement each other with the services that we provide to the people,” the Minister urged.
Meanwhile, Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, BIT, Ms Alana Brassington, while providing an update about the training opportunities available through the Ministry highlighted that the BIT Board will be celebrating this year its 100th anniversary since its establishment in 1910.
She said that BIT consists of training programmes, including a two-year apprenticeship programme, the National Training Project for Youth, Empowerment (NTYPE), as well as the single parent training programme.
Brassington said that the NTYPE programme caters for youths between the ages of 15 to 25 years who have not completed high school while the apprenticeship programme exposed youths to a variety of skills during their attachments to work places for a period of six months and are paid a stipend. The single parent training programme, on the other hand, caters for single parents who are registered on the Ministry’s database.
She pointed out that single parents who have been registered on the database can follow-up with the Ministry to reinforce their commitment to continue the programme which will begin in a month’s time.
Rajpaul Jaggai, a resident of East Bank Berbice who visited the fair to access its services, lauded the initiative, saying that it gives young people, especially early school-leavers and persons who are unemployed, an opportunity have a job and improve themselves.
Said he: “It gives young people a chance to enroll and train to be somebody, and to be employed with companies. This is something good the Ministry is doing, by bringing the service to Berbice and giving Berbicians an opportunity, which I think they didn’t have quite a while back, for young people and also people who are seeking employment.”
Elvina Shivlochan, a single parent and resident of Berbice, who also visited the site to seek employment, praised the Ministry for putting such a programme in place, and said that she will be encouraging other single mothers like herself to access it.