The Ministry of Labour, the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and the University of Guyana (UG) are currently working to develop an internship programme that would give all of the university’s final year students the opportunity to benefit from skills training programmes.
Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour and Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BIT, Saskia Eastman-Onwuzirike, on Friday met with University of Guyana (UG) Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic Engagement, Dr. Emanuel Cummings; Academic Affairs Officer, Audwin Rutherford; and Research and Development Officer, Suzette James.
The discussion focused on developing a comprehensive programme guided by the recently reevaluated apprenticeship programme undertaken by the International Labour Organization (ILO), with the goal of providing students with the necessary skills and knowledge to match the needs of the country’s labour market, a release from the ministry said.
Once finalized, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) would be proposed and signed between the entities to aid university students to become well-rounded and competent persons for admission into Guyana’s workforce.
Since taking office in August 2020, the release said that Hamilton had announced his desire to work with the university to implement an internship/apprenticeship programme to ensure students gain on-the-job experience while completing their academic courses.
Recognizing the value of job experience, the University of Guyana, the BIT and the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA) began preliminary discussions to make this a reality, a move that the ministry said it is grateful for.
In 2022, the Ministry’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department trained eight final year Environmental Health students from the university for eight weeks under the direction of OSH Consultant, Gweneth King.
They were subjected to workplace safety and health inspections in Regions 3, 4, Georgetown, and 5, as well as providing aid with accidents and complaints investigations, workplace registration, and the Recording and Notification of Occupa-tional Accidents and Occupational Diseases System.
