By Naomi Marshall

AS ‘Guyanese United to serve our Youth’ (GUTSY) begins its pilot project of coaching 110 children on social and emotional skills, 48 Educators will also be trained to facilitate workshops on social and emotional skills.

This was announced at the opening ceremony of GUTSY’s Youth Forum on Monday, at the National Racquet Centre.

Over a five-day-period, GUTSY Inc. will be working in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Protection, to educate teachers, principals and parents on social and emotional learning, parenting and youth guidance.

From August 7-9, 2019, at the Leonora National Track & Field Centre and Secondary School, children ages 3 to 12, will also be taught on effective socialization and how to deal with their emotions, which will assist in their development as they mature to their full potential as responsible Guyanese.

Participants of the programme will stem from Meten Meer Zorg Islamic Academy, Sophia U Empowerment Group and Josel Academy, and will be joined by workers of the Child Protection Agency and Youth Ambassadors from the Rights of The Child Commission.
According to Carla Meertens, Member of GUTSY, the workshop will focus on areas of self-respect, integrity, honesty, reliance, defense amongst others.

Meertens explained that the forum surrounds teaching children about who they are and what it takes to become productive citizens of Guyana.

“It’s important to teach them these skills because in life, in order for us to be successful, we need to first start with knowing who we are and be self-disciplined in our own beliefs and practices. When we are disciplined in what we believe and what we are capable of doing, then we could be successful and so without the said skills it would be very hard to be successful in our lives,” she noted.

Delivering the feature address of the event was Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally, who said that she is impressed with the work the newly formed non-governmental organization has been doing and its core mission to nurture the growth of the nation’s children.

Ally said it was evident that today’s youths were observing the rapid change in social, moral, ethical and religious values around them, and as such, the impact of small family norms, nuclear family system and cognitive driven curriculum increase the stress of adolescents.

She continued saying, “This in some cases are reflected by high suicide rates and growing crime among young persons. They are perplexed with the emerging developments and sometimes a system which fail to understand their feelings.”

Therefore, she added, there was a burning need to provide the youths of today with a new set of coping mechanisms and system to deal with the demands of life.
“That is why I am so pleased that GUTSY has developed this much needed initiative that will over the next few days provide our youths with important tools for development…because unlike motor skills and basic intelligence, decision making skills are not innate but learned,” Ally pointed out.

The Minister indicated that she was confident that the initiative will bridge communication barriers between youths and adults, enable young people to handle stressful situations effectively, learn to have healthy disagreements and to make firm stands on their values, beliefs and cultural differences.

In closing she added, “I wish to note that our actions today will determine their world of tomorrow. We must overcome the challenges that impede the development of our children so that we can achieve a sustainable development, robust and prosperous nation.”