Acting Commander of ‘C’ Division Paul Williams has urged parents to act as watchdogs and ensure that their children’s skills are channeled in the right direction.
He was at the time speaking at the third annual graduation ceremony held at the Police Officers’ Training Centre, Camp Street, for adults, children and Police Youth Club members who participated in a computer training programme that was conducted by the force and the Zara Computer Training Centre.
Williams told the gathering that “with commitment, dreams will be realised,” while stating that it is also the duty of the parents to ensure the type of training is being channeled in the right direction. “Being Information-Technology literate in today’s society means one is open to the world,” he said.
As a result, he urged the parents to monitor the quantity of time their children spend online and what they do. Without this, he said, it is highly likely that they will get lost along the line.
The training programme began in September, 2015 and continued until August, 2016. During this period a total of 20 courses were completed.
These include eight adult courses consisting of six foundation courses, an advanced course, a PC repairs and maintenance course, three youth foundation courses, a CSEC Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPM) and IT course, and four summer courses and four police courses.
Delivering the overview, Woman Corporal 20903 Andries-Smith said in this year some 564 students started the programme and 462 were trained. This is in comparison to 2014, where 410 students started and 312 were fully trained and 2015, when 446 started and 402 were fully trained.
She said the students performed exceptionally well at the CSEC examinations. They attained nine Grade Ones for EDPM, eight Grade Twos and two Grade Threes.
The students were from various ministries, members of city constabulary and the Customs Department.
For the remainder of this year, Andries-Smith said, the force intends to place emphasis on training, with a vision to surpass the 2016 figures. A new course in Microsoft QuickBooks is also expected to be added soon, she noted.
