At a media briefing held at the ministry, the charity said the support encompasses several components, with the three major ones being the provision of tools and machinery for the joinery and machinery workshop, a one-year salary for a catering/food instructor and the provision of a German expert to provide eight weeks intensive training for trainers and other pro-viders. Training has already started at the institution, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony said he was grateful for Erepami’s continuous support and focus on youth development. Speaking about the support to the NOC, the minister said that assistance is timely as it is occurring just as the curriculum at the institution is being re-tooled.
In August, there was a mass breakout and incidents of arson by inmates of the facility, who later complained of harsh treatment at the hands of the administration of the facility.
Some of the inmates were subsequently charged over the incidents, while a board of inquiry was set up to investigate the incidents.
The NOC’s curriculum was reviewed in July by Dr Rohan Williams to make sure that the skills training offered are consistent with the needs on the job market. He also found the curriculum at the NOC to be too male-centric, hence the introduction of catering and home management courses at the institution for female students.
“We have asked them some time ago to go over to NOC, have a look and at our training programme and see what we are doing and see how they (Eerepami) can assist us to enhance and strengthen those program-mes… they readily agreed,” Dr Anthony said. He said that the foundation would have identified the areas where they could offer support. A decision was also taken to source the skills of an expert to enhance trainers’ skills in teaching the students. It was also necessary to replace stocks lost by a fire at the institution about two months ago.
“We want to modernise our workshop and we have suffered a setback after the fire because one of our training spaces was burnt down. We had a lot of equipment in that space, and so this will go a long way in helping us to re-tool the institution,” the minister said, adding that the NOC aims to train students using the best tools in the industry so that they are competent when they secure jobs after graduation.
According to GINA, previously the training offered at the institution was not certified; however, the institution now covers the curriculum offered at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre (KKTC). “The way that we have been approaching our work at the NOC has been in a holistic way, we are not just talking and assuming that we know what’s best. What we have been doing is trying to collaborate with persons who have done this before, experts in the field, and they have been coming in working with us and helping us to improve the quality of the education that we are offering at the institution,” Anthony explained.
Eerepami Chairman Robert Spitzer said the foundation would provide the salary for the catering instructor for one year after which the ministry is expected to continue the process. According to him, from his stay in Guyana he has noted that “anything that involves food is always popular, if you can cook, if you can handle food, you will always find job opportunities.” He also revealed that the expert to train the instructors is already on the ground at NOC and the training has started. The expert is from the Senior Expert Service (SEP), a non-profit organisation in Germany.
Spitzer noted that Eerepami received 75% of the funding for this project from the Saxony Youth Foundation in Germany, from a fund raised by 21,000 students who for one day go out, find a job and donate that day’s pay to the foundation. The money is then put into a fund and used to support an identified project that benefits youth in a developing country.
Eerepami first collaborated with the ministry in facilitating the replica of the giant sloth in the National Museum, GINA said. The foundation mobilised resources in Germany, built the sloth and shipped it to Guyana. It also assisted in the provision of a new filtration system for the well at the KKTC.
