Come October 1, over 3,000 young people in hinterland communities throughout the country will begin to benefit from training in technical vocations and life skills.
According to the Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA), the youth will be exposed to one-year programmes that will be implemented in three phases and will afford them the opportunity to get qualified in areas of tourism and hospitality, cake decoration, sewing, electrical instillation, plumbing, mechanical engineering, and carpentry and joinery along with in book keeping, accounts, event planning, report writing. Once per month there will also be workshops on various issues prevalent amongst youth, including teenage pregnancy, alcohol abuse and Trafficking in Persons (TIP).
The release said Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs Valarie Garrido-Lowe revealed that each trainee will receive a monthly stipend of $20,000 while another $10,000 will be saved for them, so that at the end of the year they will receive $120,000. In addition to the stipend, those who are interested in creating their own businesses will receive a small grant to do so, she told GINA.
She explained that the first phase of the programme will consist of theory and some practical, while the second phase will allow the youths to be attached to the village council or private enterprises for work study.
Meanwhile, GINA said, she also revealed that those secondary school students who are qualified to attend higher institutions of learning such at the University of Guyana, Government Technical Institute (GTI) and Carnegie School of Economics will receive scholarships.
As regards the skills training, the release said, the Toshaos of the respective communities are tasked to recruit students from their villages to register for the programme.
The programme is designed to equip young people with the skills of a trade of their choice, an opportunity to earn as they learn, and the tools of their trade at the end of their training. They will get an equal opportunity to bid for jobs and projects even as they are being trained, the release said.
It quoted Garrido-Lowe as saying, “For instance, if you are constructing a hospital or a school in a community, the contractors normally walk with all their skilled personnel. We have to do better than that, we have to equip our youths to get employment when these projects come up, and the only way we can do that is to train them.”
