Labour Ministry to provide apprenticeship programmes to UG students and non-violent prisoners next year

DPI – The Ministry of Labour will be providing apprenticeship programmes to University of Guyana (UG) students, and persons incarcerated for non-violent offenses, allowing them to benefit from both classroom teaching and work-based training, Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton said.

Hamilton told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that his Ministry has engaged the University on the programmes which will begin in 2021.

The Minister explained that the programmes will ensure graduates acquire the skills and training they will need to succeed in the world of work.

“People are graduating by the hundreds at the University, but when they leave, they can’t land a job because they have no experience so how do we deal with that? And so, this programme will address that,” he said.

Hamilton explained that the programme will be similar to that offered at UG’s Medical Science Faculty, where students are required to complete internship programmes before practicing medicine.

“The same thing we must do for economists, accountants, engineers so that in that one year they are honing their skills, and so when they go and apply for a job, they can bring that on their CV,” the Minister said.

Additionally, discussions are ongoing with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Prison Service to provide a similar training programme to persons incarcerated for non-violent offences. Several training programmes are already being provided to incarcerated persons.

“I’ve discussed it with the private sector and the minister and so we have to fashion at the level of Labour and Home Affairs, how we can do this programme, maybe we do a pilot programme at Berbice since they have both male and female at that prison,” Minister Hamilton said.

This, he said, is part of the Government’s plan to reintegrate people once they leave the prison system.
The training and other topics that will be further discussed at a Technical Conference being organised by the Ministry for March next year.
Members of the private sector and heads of Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions are among those who will be participating in the conference.