First Lady, Sandra Granger, yesterday, attended the closing ceremony of a three-week Information Communication Technology (ICT) Workshop, which saw 36 youths certified by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT).
A release from the Ministry of the Presidency said that the workshop took place at the St. Ignatius Secondary School, St. Ignatius Village, Region Nine.
Mrs. Granger urged the students to grasp the opportunities that their new certification affords them.
“This programme is all about employment and preparing our young people for employment… People are becoming obsolete in certain skills and we have to think ahead… You are the ones who will inherit this new technology and you are the ones who will have to seize the day in that respect,” she said.
The First Lady also congratulated 24 graduates of BIT’s Heavy-Duty Equipment Operator Training Programme, who shared the graduation ceremony with the ICT participants.
Chief Facilitator, Fitzroy Younge lauded the First Lady’s initiative as it complements the Government’s vision for youth empowerment in Guyana.
Chairman of BIT, Clinton Williams encouraged the graduates to apply their ICT skills in a wide range of sectors.
“Sometimes we do these programmes without realising that [the skills acquired] can be used in a number of ways… In the business environment… ICT can be used… in data processing… Technology can be used, also, in education. The fact that we have to pull [information] from the internet suggests to you that [you can] find anything that you want to find if you follow this programme and further develop yourself… Graduates, it is said that skill is wealth, use your new skills wisely to enrich your lives and that of your family and make us all proud of having made this investment in you so that… we all, in fact, can experience the good life in return,” he said, according to the release.
Valedictorian, Phabiula Rodrigues said that girls have a place in the technology arena.
“I was never expecting to be in this position today, but I worked hard… [In] the class, mostly it was the girls dominating the boys. Yes, we can work hard and accomplish whatever [challenges] come our way,” she said.
