9 women among 45 Kitty residents certified heavy duty equipment operators

A total of 45 residents from kitty Georgetown, Region four (Demerara-Mahaica) on Wednesday was awarded certificates in Heavy Duty Equipment Operation (HDEO) as the Labour Ministry in collaboration with the Board of Industrial Training conducts graduation ceremony for the first batch of heavy-duty equipment operators at the Guyana Industrial Training Centre.

Delivering remarks at the ceremony, Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton said that the ministry’s training programmes are not only geared towards equipping persons with various skills but also aims to provide employment. On this point he noted that for this particular programme with which the ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will ensure persons who have completed the programme get employed in the local workforce.
“We have a MoU with the police force so that in all of our HDEO programmes we want to ensure that outside of the certificate all the people who graduate they have a license to operate this equipment, we don’t want you to be left out and you can’t get a job that you really should have gotten,” the minster asserted.
The recent batch of graduates comprised of 38 males and nine females and in this regard the minister applauded the females that participated in the programme as he further encouraged more females to step into male dominated fields since they now have the freedom to access various programmes.

“I am talking to you women, there is no man work and woman work, whatever work and man can do you can do it and sometime far better than the man can do it” the minister posited.
Meanwhile, also delivering remarks at the ceremony was the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) Chief Executive Office Richard Maughn who encouraged participants to continue accruing the necessary knowledge needed to upskill themselves.
“The training that you have received I am quite sure would have inspired you to learn more, to develop further don’t let that desire die after you receive your certificate today but keep pressing keep looking for opportunities to develop yourselves more and more,” Maughn stated.
To date the programme which was developed to address the lack of heavy-duty operators in the country and has yet trained nearly 100 persons in heavy-duty equipment operation in Georgetown this year that had a duration of four to six months. The programme covers various topics, including equipment operation techniques, safety procedures, maintenance practices, and industry regulations.