Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
268 out-of-school youths graduate from skills training project
A section of the 268 youths who graduated from the government’s skills training project, yesterday.
A total of 268 out-of-school youths from Regions Three and Four, yesterday graduated from the National Training Project for Youth Empowerment (NTPYE).
However, almost half of the youths who joined the programme from Region Four eventually dropped out. Yesterday, Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir, urged those who graduated to continue encouraging their fellow youths to obtain a skill so they could stand a better chance of gaining employment.
At the graduation ceremony held at the National Cultural Centre, it was revealed that only 54 percent of those who joined the project from Region Four completed their courses. Region Three enjoyed greater success, with 87 percent.
The NTPYE was launched by President Bharrat Jagdeo in June 2005, and had an original goal of training over 5,000 youths in three years. However, Nadir had earlier acknowledged that the project got off to a slow start and only picked up after two years.
Those who graduated yesterday were trained in 35 disciplines and were attached to a total of 60 state and private entities.
This is the largest group of students to graduate at any one time for the project. Yesterday’s graduation brought the total number of out-of-school youths to graduate from the project for this year to 740.
According to Nadir, by the end of September, an estimated 1,200 would have graduated.
One student, Indira Persaud, from Region Three, said she found the training quite useful, and she was happy for the practical instruction received at the Leonora Hospital, West Coast Demerara. As a result, she said she was able to find employment.
Nadir had earlier indicated that an average of 3,000 youths do not complete secondary school every year. At yesterday’s graduation, he laboured on the point that these young people dropped out of school for different reasons and that if given a second chance, they will prove those who say they have “no ambition” wrong.
He said the overwhelming majority of young people want to do something with their lives.
Public Service Minister, Dr Jennifer Westford, told the students that having completed the training at the level of the NTPYE, they can now make themselves available for other training that her ministry provides.
She recounted an experience of meeting a group of out-of-school young men gambling at a street corner and invited them to meet with her to discuss options for training. As a result, she said, two of them have now received sufficient technical training to enter the University of Guyana.
As a result, she urged the students to dream big and to use the opportunity for training to make themselves “someone” in society.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
A call for more cultural centres
…Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- Burnham’s decision to divert the Indian Immigration Fund towards constructing the National... more
Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Weekend Cartoon
