The First Buxton Information and Communication Technology (ICT) workshop and Buxton Youth remedial programmes graduated 57 youths.
Held at the Friendship Primary School, East Coast Demerara (ECD) the ceremony saw the ICT workshop graduating 24 youths, including high school students as well as school drop-outs while the remedial programme graduated 33 high and low Grade Two to Grade Six students – all hailing from the communities of Buxton, Company Road and Friendship primary schools.
The ICT workshop is certified by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and equips graduates with basic ICT skills.
From left: Coordinator of the Buxton ICT workshop, Fitzroy Younge, Joycelyn Wilson, First Lady Sandra Granger, trainer Ovian Austin and Lieutenant Colonel Yvonne Smith of the Office of the First Lady along with the graduates
Its curriculum also includes instruction in remedial Mathematics and English courses as well as sessions in sexual and reproductive health, training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, micromanagement development and soft skills; including ethics and time management.
Graduating the valedictorian out of the workshop is Dinelle Blair while Kenzia King capped the Salutatorian position.
Addressing the gathering, First Lady Sandra Granger applauded the graduates and revealed that some of the ICT graduates have already been employed by the National Data Management Authority.
“The world is open to you because computer skills will be required for 75 per cent of the jobs in the world. So think about it and keep that skills going, use it or lose it,” she said.
According to the First Lady, the beneficiaries of the remedial programme are doing better in school than previously.
“Mothers were proud that their children, who had entered Grade Four unable to read were reading by the end of the school year. I have been advised that the literacy rate of the Friendship Primary School has moved from 57 per cent two years ago to 87 per cent this year,” she said.
Delivering the feature address, head of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Guyana, Andreasa Morris-Martin commended the First Lady and the organisers for recognising the necessity of this type of training in a fast-paced, technology driven world.
“I really do feel that ICT and anything computing really is the sort of knowledge we need to impart in our young people because really and truly if they don’t have those skills it is very likely that they are going to be left behind,” she said.
The closing ceremony featured an IT skit performed by the ICT graduates and a musical rendition by graduate Shenika Griffith.
