–Minister Nandlall tells PMTC graduands
“YOU have a Government that is prepared to invest in your future; but it is largely your future, and you are the architects of your own destiny,” Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, told graduands of the Port Mourant Training Centre’s evening class recently.The Board of Industrial Training, (BIT) in collaboration with the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) training centre at Port Mourant, recently hosted its second graduation exercise for evening class students, who graduated from six different courses, namely: Basic Fitting and Machining, Electrical Instillation 1, Motor Vehicle Servicing and Repairs, Refrigeration, Welding and Fabrication, and Supervisory Management.
Delivering the feature address to the graduands, Minister Nandlall drew attention to the importance that Government places on education for all, moreso the youth.
The minister said, “Every year, if you look at our annual budget, you would see that the singular largest budgetary allocation goes towards education. When you look at our budget totally, you will see that almost a third of that budget is directed to the social sector of our country.”
He said the reason why Government injects so much financial resources in this direction is because of the importance of developing the “human capital”.
The minister articulated that “no society has ever advanced… no country has ever been built without investments made in the people of that country or that society in terms of training them, educating them; in terms of equipping them to take charge of the developmental trajectory of that country or society.”
Countries like Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, which are limited in their natural resources, in recognition of their drawbacks, have “made the decision that they must invest in their human capital, and they already have; and today these are some of the leading economies in the world. That is the philosophy and ideology that guides this government when it invests in young people,” Minister Nandlall divulged.
He referred to Guyana’s colonial background of poverty, and how through education citizens have managed to extricate themselves from the cycle of poverty, and will continue to do so through the younger generation, in advising as follows: “Therefore, as you graduate, please recognise that it is only the beginning of what is a path; a journey that will only take you upwards. And in aiming upwards, let only the sky be your limit. I don’t want to see you confine your future to the skills that you have acquired today; let these skills be the foundation upon which you would build your future,” the minister urged.
He highlighted that the training the graduands have received is for skills which are in demand in Guyana and abroad. Mention was made of the construction boom that is currently taking place in Guyana, and the scarcity of skilled labour to satisfy the demands which are out there.
“Therefore, there is an eminent need for the skills you have acquired; but as I said and maintained most resolutely, I don’t want that to be the place where you stop,” the AG reiterated.
Minister Nandlall said, “We have a country to build. You would have read in the newspapers the furor which erupted when the Chinese, the persons who are constructing the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, employed Chinese labour. When we were building the Stadium, the contractor requested that, as a condition of the contract, he must have Indian labour. The Chinese company that built the Convention Centre requested that they be allowed to employ Chinese labour.”
He explained that those conditionalities were requested not because the companies were discriminating against Guyanese, but because of the shortage of skilled labour, coupled with the indiscipline which exists in the labour force, which has allowed for this to happen.
The AG further observed that the “world will not operate at your speed; you have to operate at the world’s speed. And therefore, as you embark on your professional pursuits in relation to what you plan for yourself, just be cognisant of the fact that you are entering a very exciting and challenging world, where if you are not equipped then you will be eliminated in the competition.”
The AG reiterated that the PPPC government has always invested in young people in education and in acquisition of technical and vocational skills.
He also congratulated all of the parents and relatives who made the necessary sacrifice to help this batch of students graduate.
Also speaking at the event was Deputy Chairman of the Board of Industrial Training, GuySuCo’s Human Resources Director Jairam Petam, who observed that the graduates from the institution would be welcomed with open arms anywhere. This, he said, is due to the high standards that the institution has been able to maintain, which resonates well with the best companies regionally and internationally.
He outlined that the focus of the BIT has shifted from being one of regulation to one of the delivery of technical training for Guyana and the industries that need the skills which are produced in the institution.
Petam added that it is not only about bringing people to the institution, but it is also about taking the knowledge and skills where they are needed in greater demand.
He also expressed that training is no longer restricted to engineering, but is available in many aspects, to make persons employable across the country.
He congratulated the graduands on their achievements in their respective fields, whilst underscoring the inception of the evening classes, which began in 2013 under the guidance of the late Dr. Dale Bisnauth.
He opined thus: “What we are doing at the Board of Industrial Training [BIT] is to make the unemployed employable. Those who do not have the skills, we create those skills in those individuals, and we make them employable. That is the basic philosophy of what drives the BIT in this direction.”(GINA)