Berbicians urged to participate in ICT training initiatives

The Industry and Innovation Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister, has been providing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training in all ten administrative regions, aimed at equipping individuals with the skills and knowledge to effectively use and manage technology for information handling and communication, encompassing hardware, software, and related applications.
The unit has been running several programmes to achieve that objective.

Outreach Officer with the Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Unit, Keisha Hamad, says that programmes have been held in different communities, with the next billed at Sandvoot, West Canje. That programme starts on Monday and goes until Thursday from 16:00h to 18:00h each day.
There, persons will be exposed to basic ICT, which, according to Hamad, is vital in today’s technological world.
“The ICT training it’s basically a basic training for persons who may not have any prior knowledge to operate on the computer and so forth. So what we aim to do is to teach those persons the basics in it. We teach you hardware, software, storage; we touch a little bit on AI and cyber-security, and our main focus is on three applications: the Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. We teach you how to create the slide in PowerPoint; we teach you all the designs animations in Word Microsoft Word; we teach you how to write a letter; we teach you different fonts and size, and so, that you can use when writing a letter. And in Excel we teach you basic calculations and how you can go about preparing an excel sheet; maybe a budget and so forth; we teach you basic formulas, and those kind of things,” Hamad explained.

Anyone over 14-years-old can apply for training. Hamad said they have had up persons to 79-years-old applying and benefiting from the training. She explained how vital the knowledge gained from the four-day programmes being held countrywide is, as it equips persons with the skills to effectively function in a technology driven world.
“We recognise the need for this basic training, because we understand that a lot of persons may not have had the experience or may not have had the opportunity to learn these as a child or, you know, in their adult age, because of circumstances; persons would not have had the opportunity, and with how our country, and the world in fact, is heading to a digital landscape, there we are evolving technologically; we recognize that [with] everything, you need to have some sort of computer skill: you go to the bank, you go to the ATM, as simple as going to the airport now, and all these initiatives that we have implemented in the country[are because] persons have to have some sort of ICT skills,” she added.

Following the training at the Sandvoort Primary School next week, Baracara will be next, followed by the Black Bush Polder, Maida-Tarlogy NDC area; Number 52 Village and Albion during the month of May.
The training is free and computers are provided for persons to receive their training.
“It’s from the government of Guyana, and we would like as much persons to benefit as possible. We are coming to your area, we are providing the necessary resources in terms of the computers, we will be bringing those. So, even if you don’t have a computer you don’t have to stay away, we will provide that for you to do the practicals with,” Hamad pointed out.