Robotics, self-reliance workshops taken to North Rupununi

Some 100 residents of the North Rupununi, in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region (Region Nine) will benefit from two workshops focused on robotics and business, compliments of First Lady Sandra Granger.

The residents, comprising both youth and adults, will be engaged in the workshops, which started today and will conclude Friday. Granger, on Monday morning, declared open the workshops at the Bina Hill Institute, where it was disclosed that a group of 60 students from the Annai Primary and Secondary schools as well as the Bina Hill Institute will be trained in STEM/ robotics. The remaining 40 community members will be trained in the area of self-reliance and success in business.
The workshops will be conducted separately by STEM Guyana and Interweave Solutions, with the Self-Reliance Workshop being supported by the Ministry of Social Protection. The First Lady, in her opening remarks, encouraged the participants to think about the possibilities technology can provide.
“It is predicted that by 2050, sixty percent of the jobs will be done by robots,” she said, noting that currently 50 percent of the existing jobs are being done by robots.
As such, the First Lady stressed the need for young people, particularly women, to get involved in STEM/Robotics.
“This is why I am very keen on getting our young ladies interested in STEM,” Granger added, while noting that involvement in STEM and Robotics should not be seen as an imposition on indigenous cultures, but rather organising the community to perform in the 21st century.
“This doesn’t mean that we ignore our culture or the beauties of the arts… but we need to know that if we are going to function in the 21st century, we need to have the skills,” she stated. Upon completion of the workshop each student will receive a robot which they can program.
Meanwhile, the First Lady told participants of the ‘Self-Reliance and Success in Business’ workshop that there are numerous business opportunities within their communities. “Here, in Annai, there are tremendous possibilities… Annai is famous for what I know as “full belly mangoes”. Why can’t you have a fruit processing or fruit juice processing manufacturing plant here, so that the mangoes don’t just fall on the ground when they are in season; but you have some being dried, and some being preserved, and some being used for fruit juice… You can have a big market here, and that’s just one possibility,” Mrs Granger declared.
“You can come together and work as a co-op in your community, or work individually; but the idea is that you become economically empowered and you take it from there,” she added. Senior Councillor and Chairman of the North Rupununi District Development Board, Jacqueline Allicock, described the initiative by the First Lady as the “beginning of a new dream” for the North Rupununi, and encouraged participants to capitalise on the training and information.
The First Lady’s Self Reliance and Success in Business Workshop has thus far trained 1500 persons.