Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

HOW THE MODERN WORLD REALLY WORKS!

Mar 13, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom…

Kaieteur News – To pretend is to act as if something is true when in fact we know differently. To deceive ourselves is not to know the truth but to believe that we do.

We have seen this in relation to the outcome of the general and regional elections for 2020. People know the truth about what happened but the lousy losers instead of facing up to their defeat opted to deceive their supporters into believing otherwise.

We do great danger to ourselves when we believe that we have what it takes.  One of the areas where we are grossly lacking is in the availability of skills.

There are many highly skilled persons in Guyana but not in the numbers that are required. In many areas, specialized skills are lacking, seriously lacking.

This has nothing to do with the brain drain. We like to deceive ourselves into believing that those skills have migrated. A great many of the specialists that come from overseas were developed overseas; these skills were not honed in Guyana.

We have a good record of producing bright persons, but for these bright persons to develop high-tech competencies, they have to go where those skills are better harnessed. They have to go overseas. We are not producing anywhere near the level of skilled personnel that we need and therefore Guyana has to look outside for skills.

We probably will never in the next fifty years have the skills we need. That is the reality that we have to face. The economy is expanding at a rate which is too fast to produce the requisite skills locally.

If we want to be the best, if we want to have the best skills; we have to send people abroad for training and more so for the relevant experience. You cannot develop a nuclear scientist in Guyana by asking him to repair a donkey cart.

There are many people graduating from school and university in Guyana who believe that they have arrived. They want top jobs with top pay, even though many of them do not have an ounce of experience.

Their ambition must be admired. And they have a lot of persons drumming it into their heads that there are no opportunities in Guyana. Well just pick up the newspapers each day and take a look at the vacancies that are advertised. Then ask some of the employers in the country how hard it is to get skilled persons.

There are children coming out of school with a whole bundle of subjects and when some of them go into the workplace they cannot function. Hundreds of applications are received for jobs and yet employers are not finding persons with the right skills that they need.

Guyanese are overrating themselves. They are pretending that they have what it takes or they are deceiving themselves into believing that they do. Had the Skeldon Sugar Factory been up and running, we would have run into a skills-deficit problem. The same is going to happen with the gas-to-shore project and the proposed refinery. We are only fooling ourselves into believing that we can over the next few years produce the skills needed for such facilities. We cannot.

All over the world this is how technology is transferred. The persons providing the equipment come and run the operations for a specified period of time or train the beneficiary countries in the operations of the plant. We did not do this because we deluded ourselves into believing that we had the skills.

The government is only now rushing to countries like India for skills. But it should have known this when it set about its spending spree and launching massive projects. It should have recognized the limitations of the local human resources. We do not have the skills

There is a model however which is being used by the United Arab Emirates. That model is to import skills. But is that a model of national development, and how different is it from when the western countries outsourced their production to cheaper markets in Asia? It is a model unfortunately from which we should stay clear.

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 13th, 2025

 

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Windies captain Brathwaite stresses bravery, belief ahead of Pakistan Test Series

Windies captain Brathwaite stresses bravery, belief ahead of Pakistan...

Jan 17, 2025

SportsMax – With the stakes high and the odds challenging, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite has placed an unyielding focus on self-belief and bravery as key factors for his team to deliver...
Read More
In-form Savory dazzles on second day with classy half-century

In-form Savory dazzles on second day with classy...

Jan 17, 2025

Moo Milk sponsors National U12 Chess tourneys

Moo Milk sponsors National U12 Chess tourneys

Jan 17, 2025

Determinators’ 2-1 win over Pele FC keep them alive as DeJonge needles Potaro

Determinators’ 2-1 win over Pele FC keep them...

Jan 17, 2025

Lusignan Golf Club to host Inaugural GBTI Mastercard Golf Classic this Sunday

Lusignan Golf Club to host Inaugural GBTI...

Jan 17, 2025

GFF Referee department recognizes top performances at Referee Award Ceremony, FIFA badges issued

GFF Referee department recognizes top...

Jan 17, 2025

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]