Annual career fair aims to create leaders

Hundreds of children poured into the West Demerara Secondary School (WDSS) on Friday to participate in the Education Ministry’s second annual Career Fair 2018 as part of Education Month activities.
Held under the theme: “Predict your future by creating it”, the event materialised under the umbrella of the Guidance and Counseling Department to expose senior secondary school students on career paths that can be pursued.
Some of the partnering stakeholders included the Guyana School of Agriculture, the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), the University of Guyana (UG), the Guyana Forestry Commission, the Georgetown School of Nursing, the Rajiv Gandhi School of Medicine, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the National Library among others.
While interacting with representatives of the various booths, students from as far as Wakenaam Island were engaged in discussions pertaining to their career choice, while being entertained by popular calypso rhythms from the WDSS band.
Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) Regional Education Officer (REDO), Anessta Douglas, expounded on the importance of such events, noting that, “It is important for us to ensure that our learners are given the best opportunities to progress into the future and to help them with important and relevant choices.”
Senior Guidance and Counselling Officer, Priscilla Gonsalves also gave insight into the fair which highlighted the main goal as making interventions for students to make good decisions when choosing a career path. According to Gonsalves, this will ensure that responsible youths are created to lead Guyana.
Guyana Times spoke to representatives from some of the institutions which students can attend after completing their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination to pursue courses and specified training.
Shazam Somwar, of Greenheart Medical University stated, “The programmes that we offer include four and five-year programmes. We currently have approximately 125 students pursuing studies with us in the medical field. We always push our students to do better and we have some of the best lecturers around.”
At the Cacique Accounting Centre booth, Joshua Bissoon indicated that the institute focuses on accounting and finance courses. He said, “It is very, very important no matter which sector you operate in because with any organisation, you need money to operate.”
At Nations Inc, Felicia Mohamed and Joanne Andrews were present to greet students with flyers and educational aids on some of the business and law certificates which can be obtained.
“We have a whole lot of courses here so we’re basically here to promote the ‘A’ levels which is our Sixth Form and the pre-law. We also have courses from ACCA, ABE, the Cambridge University, University of London, University of Bedfordshire and [Project Management Institute] PMI.”
At the Leonora and Technical Vocational Training Centre, skills training are offered for persons of all ages in carpentry and joinery, metal work, engineering, electrical installation, plumbing, agriculture machinery, welding and motor vehicle works.