700 students engaged annually through VYC’s STEM programme

Recognising the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) amid Guyana’s economic development, the Volunteer Youth Corps (VYC) Inc. STEM Afterschool programme has been targeting hundreds of young individuals from various regions across the country every year.
The programme, which is supported by ExxonMobil Guyana and the Ministry of Education, has trained approximately 700 students from Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Four (Demerara-Mahaica) over the past year.

VYC Board Member, Bonita Hunter, made this disclosure on Wednesday during the organisation’s annual graduation ceremony. She highlighted that STEM has a significant impact on the day-to-day lives, noting that all of one’s daily activities is connected to STEM in some way, shape or form.
“Science, [and] the whole STEM programme, and everyday life cannot and should not be separated, because everything that we do has to do with STEM. Living has to do with STEM It has to do with our biological functions – moving, talking, walking – whatever we do comes from that base knowledge that we have of STEM,” she pointed out.
In this regard, Hunter revealed that the Volunteer Youth Corps has been working assiduously with stakeholders to ensure a significant amount of the nation’s learners are exposed to STEM training annually.
“Each year, this programme reaches approximately 700 students, offering daily classes to learners, annual STEM camps, conferences, and award and prize-giving ceremonies as well as robotics training workshops and publications. This commitment towards enhancing education by the Volunteer Youth Corps continues to make a difference in our learners’ daily lives,” the board member stated.
Also present at the award ceremony was the Education Ministry’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Officer, Raul Andrews, who highlighted the importance of having TVET skills amid Guyana’s rapidly growing economy.
“And if you notice, TVET deals with technology which is very important in any country. We’ve talked about how oil in any country is very vital because it opens a lot of new opportunities in the construction industry, the engineering industry etc. which will have all of the TVET areas. The country is expanding, the economy is growing, and we will need persons with technical knowledge to work in this country,” Andrews explained.
Moreover, the Officer commended the Volunteer Youth Corps for implementing TVET knowledge into its operations. In the same breath, however, Andrews encouraged stakeholders to explore and implement more TVET-related areas into the afterschool programme.
“I know you’re doing TVET areas [but] I think you’re doing it in only one or two areas [so] I’m challenging you also to see how best you can add more areas to the after-class or the after-school class, to educate the nations children. You have the visual arts, home economics, even the business, because I know you’re doing an area in industrial technology. All those areas, they are very vital,” the TVET officer stated.
Meanwhile, the graduation ceremony on Wednesday saw more than 150 students being rewarded for their outstanding performance. Notably, since its inception in 2012, the Volunteer Youth Corps (VYC) STEM Afterschool programme has impacted the lives of over 6,400 students from 18 high schools across the country. The programme offers free classes in several subject areas such as Math, Science and Robotics among others.