| “We cannot bully youths to gain skills; they have to want it”- Minister Henry(Mondale Smith)No government can create jobs for everyone and as such the Guyana government is encouraging entrepreneurial skills training so that youths can become self employed and even create opportunities for others as part of the global agenda to treat with the reality of the growing number of unemployment among the youth population.This was the candid response from Nicolette Henry, the Minister within the Ministry of Education,Brian Gionta Jersey, Culture, Youth and Sport in response to queries regarding the subject of youth unemployment.She said that government can provide opportunities for skills development but it cannot bully anyone to participate. The Minister is calling on youths to get secure their development by making use of the many mentorship skills and leadership training programmes available locally.The new government has received and continues to receive heaps of criticism over the past four months for the growing number of unemployed youth locally.Minister Henry said, “Youth unemployment is not unique to Guyana; it is a global crisis but we as a government are not standing idly by and letting our youth fall by the wayside.”She notes that while some have shown interest in getting involved in ongoing consultations regarding the National Youth Policy and other initiatives, “Government cannot force anyone including youths to get involved, but has not and will not give up on that very important and integral section of the population who are agents of change.”The Minister said, “Our young people need to understand that in order to take up meaningful positions, they must first be willing to be mentored to acquire leadership skills so that they can contribute meaningfully while earning.”Noting that Government hears the cries from the youth population,http://www.theworldsoccersshop.com/Argentina-Lionel-Messi-Jersey.html, the Minister said, “We are taking steps building on what was already there from the previous administration and we do have skills development opportunities through our training centers at Kuru Kururu, Sophia and at Vryman’s Erven in New Amsterdam that provide training opportunities but some of them don’t want to be part of the process.”Rupert Roopnaraine Minister of Education, Culture Youth and SportNicolette Henry,Adam Joseph Duhe Dolphins Jersey, Minister within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and SportAccording to the Minister, aside from national interest, she has,Chile Jersey, “personally begged some of the youths who are complaining to make themselves available for training, and the responses have been underwhelming to state the least.”She noted too, “Government cannot bully youths to gain skills; they have to want it.”Meanwhile in a recent television interview, Education Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine admitted that he shares the view that there is need for more youths to be involved and appointed to important positions under this administration. He said, “I would like to see them come forward or being brought forward a lot more than they are.”He noted too that he is very interested to see what will come out of the National Sports Commission and ultimately what the Youth Commission is going to come up with.Expressing his own feelings, Dr. Roopnarine said, “The youth are obviously far too important a section of society from a resource point of view to be ignored, as they are the section of the population with the energy and a lot of what is needed for continued national development”.“I hate the fact that they have the feeling that somehow or the other we are not including them enough (but) if that’s what they feel, then they are probably right and we need to do more in relation to ensuring that the young people come forward with their ideas and play their full part.”Ultimately, the substantive Minister said it is his wish to see more of youth physically represented in the Ministries.“Were we to ignore or fail to take advantage of that important section of society, we would in fact do ourselves a lot of damage and we have enough problems without that.”A recent study coming out of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has shown that Guyana has a youth unemployment rate of about 40%.The report indicated that out of the seven reviewed countries in the region,Cheap NHL Jerseys, Guyana’s rate was the highest.According to the report’s findings, the regional countries with the highest persistent youth unemployment were Guyana and Suriname. Since year 2000, these rates have been consistently above 30% with Guyana’s rate hovering around 40% this time.The CDB report covered a period from 1991 to 2012 for selected countries in the Caribbean.From 2005 to 2006, the country experienced a noticeable decline in the youth unemployment rate which held relatively steady from 2006 to about 2009 then it started increasing.Between 2001 and 2002, Guyana youth unemployment rate was a staggering 50%,Throwback Jerseys, a figure far above that of any other country.Since then, the country has been hovering between 30% and 50% but never below the 30% mark. The only time in just over 20 years Guyana fell below 30% was between 1991 and 1992 when the rate was about 27%.Furthermore, Guyana has been the country with the highest level of youth unemployment in the reviewed countries for more than a decade; the country was topped by other countries only thrice in over two decades: these were in 1991, 1992 and again around 2000.The report also showed that the total unemployment rates in Guyana are also “persistently high”.In a previous report Education Minister Rupert Roopnarine had deemed Guyana’s unemployment rate as “unacceptable”.He said his Ministry will devise serious policies to bring youths into the workforce. He said too that the Ministry will move right away to develop strategies with expediency.“I can’t say yet what these strategies are but the youth unemployment will be handled with extreme urgency,” Roopnarine emphasised. |
