$29M for NOC upgrade

The sum of $28.978 million will be spent on the rehabilitation of the New Opportunity Corps (NOC), located at Onderneeming, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).
Minister of State Joseph Harmon, during his recent post-Cabinet press briefing, said Cabinet approved the contract which was awarded to PD Construction.
The project forms part of the Social Protection Ministry’s Capital Programme. The Ministry will also be implementing a Self-Sufficient Agricultural Economic Services

venture, as part of the reintegration programme available for the students at the institution.
Steps are also being taken to evaluate the staff complement and the core competencies that are needed to bring the institution in line with the minimum standards required by such an institution.
In July 2017, the operation of the NOC was transferred from the Education Ministry to the Social Protection Ministry, on the grounds that the institution’s purpose is to prepare and train juveniles for reintegration into society.
The NOC caters to children between the ages of 12 to 17 and most of whom are there for committing the offence of wandering. It has a specific mandate to rehabilitate and train adolescent offenders and wanderers so that they could be re-integrated in the society.