THE Government of Guyana is working with authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to launch a programme that will see some 150,000 Guyanese being trained online as coders.
The programme is part of the government’s overall plan to make Guyana a hub for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services, and aggressively develop the country’s human resource capacity.

This latest development was announced by President, Dr Irfaan Ali, on Friday, as he delivered the feature address at the 16th Annual Berbice Expo and Trade Fair.
“We are on the eve of launching an important transformative project in the ICT sector. We are now working with the UAE government to launch a programme to train 150,000 Guyanese as coders. This is the first ever in this part of the world. These are the investments we are making, putting investments in our people,” the President remarked.

Coding, sometimes called computer programming, is the process of writing computer programmes, and is how humans communicate with computers. With the world becoming more computer based, the ability to understand coding is becoming more important.

This training programme will join a host of other human resource development initiatives that the government currently has ongoing, including the Guyana Online Learning Academy (GOAL), which is already ahead in its efforts to distribute 20,000 scholarships to Guyanese across five years.

Further, in Berbice, the government will also be creating the country’s National Oil and Gas Institute.
An investment of more than US$120 million will be made to develop a facility that will train all Guyanese, thereby addressing the country’s needs for technical skills to transform the economy.

With Guyana also expanding its hospitality and tourism industry, major focus is being placed on training Guyanese in this area, with some 6,000 persons expected to be trained over the next three years.
Earlier this year President Ali had noted that steps will be taken for coding to be introduced to pupils at the primary school level in public schools across the country.

The Head of State said that the government’s plan to make the country a hub of ICT services will not be simply for local consumption, but the government is also building out the country to be seen as a centre for other countries to set up shop here, particularly in the area of BPO, or call centres.

One of the biggest steps towards this was the government’s liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in October 2020, just a few months after assuming office.
Since then, three of Guyana’s primary internet providers — GTT, Digicel and E Networks — have all invested in the expansion of their services, with increased competition leading to more affordable prices for consumers.
According to President Ali, further legislative changes are in the works to open Guyana to an even wider range of ICT services

“We want to ensure that Guyana can be a zone for data services and data centres and data banks. We are going to pass legislation as it relates to Guyana becoming a major player in data bank in the data industry. This by itself will create tons of new employment at the higher level,” President Ali said.