The Board of Industrial Training (BIT) on Friday celebrated its 100th year of existence at a ceremony at the Umana Yana, Kingston, under the theme ‘A Century of Empowering Youths with Technical and Vocational skills for life’, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir speaking at the event said BIT had come a long way in empowering youths and added that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will also get on board to provide training to young people.
The ceremony featured the presentation of awards to long-serving staff while among the companies to receive recognition were Guyana National Industrial Corporation, the Guyana Sugar Corporation, Guyana Power and Light, and Transport and Harbours Department.
BIT Chairman Dr Dale Bisnauth said the Board could not have reached such an achievement without the contributions of the persons who have served over the years.
Among those receiving long serving awards were Roderick Nurse, Technical Coordinator of BIT and Jacqueline Clarke. Bisnauth was also honoured.
BIT was established in 1910 under the Industrial Training Act Chapter 39:04, Laws of Guyana.
Training is offered in various engineering fields such as mechanical, electrical and building construction with funding sometimes provided through collaboration with the private sector and other non-governmental agencies, GINA stated.
BIT aims to ensure that there is an adequately trained workforce in both the industrial and commercial sectors of the economy.
And one such programme currently underway through funding by the Government of Guyana, with the cooperation of the public and the private sectors, is the National Training Programme for Youth Empowerment (NTPYE) which commenced in September, 2005 and which has benefited over 2,200 youths to date.
They have been trained and certified at the semi-skilled level through this project.
For this year, 509 youths were trained under the NTPYE, 185 from Regions One and Two, 132 from the Essequibo Islands, Region Three, 90 from Region Four and 102 from Region Five, GINA said.
Meanwhile, BIT expanded its role in 2009 though training programmes for single parents, with the aim of providing marketable skills as a means of creating or increasing income generation.
A total of 375 persons have been trained under the single parent programme in employable skills that are in demand on the labour market and many graduates have received a grant to assist in the establishment of small businesses, GINA added.
