The Volunteer Youth Corps (VYC) is conducting a literacy and numeracy project in Lodge for early school-leavers and single mothers in order to equip them with the skills needed to be productive.
The project was officially launched on Friday at the VYC training centre in Meadowbrook Gardens and is set to start next month. Close to 100 participants from Lodge and its environs have already signed up. VYC aims to host the programme every ten months but this will depend on donations from the private sector. VYC said its target is to reach 500 illiterate youths by the end of 2009. The Guyana Defence Force will play a key role in the programme, though it is not clear in what capacity. One option may be to incorporate those would-be recruits who failed the basic recruitment course into the programme.
Speaking at a simple launching ceremony, National Director of Community Councils Philomena Sahoye-Shury said the business community needed to come on board to ensure that the underprivileged youths progressed through the programme. The PPP activist told the small gathering that the private sector could do a lot more for youths and she implored them to show their commitment.
In giving a personal account, Sahoye-Shury said she had endured many struggles during her youth. She said too because of the VYC’s structure, it had the “touch to deal with youths” and on that basis, she congratulated them for their successful launch of the programme. Sahoye-Shury went on to say there was a great need for a day care centre at the facility as some single mothers would bring their babies to the session which she believed was a sign of commitment. Sahoye-Shury said if Guyana was to be a proud nation and have a place in the world then youths had to be taken care of.
In addition to the business sector supporting the initiative, Sahoye-Shury said the army and the police also needed to come on board. And, while she said she supported both security forces, she implored them not to make criminals out of youths, pointing out cases where young persons had been placed among hardened criminals. Instead, she said, they should put mechanisms in place to ensure that young people “are not pushed over the edge.”
Meanwhile, VYC Programme Manager Suzanne French echoed Sahoye-Shury’s plea to the business community to support the venture to ensure its longevity. She said that the organisation had been mandated to effect changes in the health, social and economic sectors in Guyana, specifically in the lives of young people. “We foster mentoring through our BBBS programme, facilitate educational programmes for orphans and vulnerable children and provide entrepreneurial training and micro-financing for youth businesses,” she said, adding that a job skills bank supported by GT&T, had been launched recently.
French said the idea for the literacy programme stemmed from this project.
According to French VYC realised that there was a need to bridge the gap between the unemployed and the employers but at the same time an even bigger gap of illiteracy exited. “The high level of illiteracy among our youth today is no secret.
Many articles have been featuring the different entities who are working to curb this social ill. Whilst our job skills bank offers training in areas like time management, office protocol and computer training, applicants were unable to fill out the basic registration form,” she said.
However, she said one of the VYC’s earliest challenges was the lack of finances since it is a not-for-profit organization. As such, funds to cover administrative and other costs to host the programme were needed. French said VYC then approached the private sector to partner it, and Continental Group of Companies, NT Computeac, Merriman’s Funeral Home, Ming’s Products and Services and Austin Book Services committed their support.
Stabroek News was told that each of the companies had been asked to donate a total of $76,000 to cover the cost of the programme. In addition to the money, NP Computeac would be assisting with computer training and repairs.
