During his feature address yesterday to graduands at the National Cultural Centre as 613 persons from Regions 3 and 4 graduated from the Board of Industrial Training’s (BIT’s) Skills Training programme, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh urged graduands to contemplate the opportunities before them and consider how they can position themselves to take advantage of those opportunities.
As the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning’s BIT programme continues to train more Guyanese across the country with 6593 persons from Regions Three and Four having completed and graduated from their respective programmes between 2020-2025, Minister Singh explained to trainees that they have been equipped with the skills and certification that the country’s economy is hungry for.
“As you graduate today, the jobs are being created more rapidly than we can even fill them, you are a self-selected group of people, you recognise opportunity when you see it and that your government is providing this training for you, so that you can take advantage of those opportunities, you persevered and completed your training programmes, but the journey does not end here because the truth is it is really the beginning because you are now embarking in the world of work and those who thrive and prosper are those who put in the effort, have the energy to go the extra mile and who demonstrate a commitment to excellence,” Dr. Singh added.
He told the trainees as well that ‘each and every one of you has the capacity not only to survive but to succeed and prosper and I want to urge you to take advantage of the opportunities in the Guyana of today’.
Moreover, the Finance Minister pointed out that the manpower programmes under the Labour Ministry has been expanded because ‘President Ali recognising as he did in this period that our country will face the most dramatic and structural shifts in our labour market, that the function of manpower planning would require dedicated effort because we have now, a Guyana where more jobs are being created than at other time in our country’s history and new types of jobs and new types of skills, many of them for the very first time’.
He further highlighted that this is what is happening in an economy that has been growing at an average rate of more than 36 percent per annum over the last five years and in an economy where the non-oil productive sector has been growing at an average of 11 percent per annum.
“The result of that is that under President Ali’s visionary leadership, in his first term of office alone 104,000 new jobs were created and by the end of President Ali’s first term, as a result of those jobs being created more than 104,000 persons were working than at the start of his last term in office,” he emphasized.
“Real economic growth that translates itself into real opportunities for the Guyanese people because President Ali’s vision and our government’s vision under President Ali’s leadership, is a Guyana where every single Guyanese person of working age is able and equipped to get a good quality job and that involves ensuring economic growth, job-creation and critical skills training and human capital development in order to fill those jobs, hence manpower planning and the phenomenal job that is being done by the Ministry of Labour and the Board of Industrial Training,” Minister Singh concluded.
Also delivering remarks to graduands at the graduation ceremony were Minister of Labour Keoma Griffith who in addition to congratulating the 613 graduands, also presented honorary awards for their years of service at BIT to former Ministers of Labour Joseph Hamilton, Dr. Nanda Gopaul and current Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir who served the institution from2020-2025, 2011-2015 and 2001-2011 respectively.
Mr. David Armogan who served as Chairman of BIT from 2020-2025 and current Chairperson Ms. Kathy Smith, the first woman to serve as Chairperson commencing in 2025, were also awarded.
Ms. Smith in her address to graduands explained to them that Guyana’s labour force needs them all and encouraged them to all strive for success as she recalled herself once working with BIT before establishing her own business and being in the position she is today. Ms. Smith is the first female President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) as well as Chairwoman of BIT.
The 613 persons who graduated yesterday from various areas in Regions Three and Four are now equipped with skills in the areas of heavy-duty equipment operation, electrical installation, welding & fabrication, commercial food preparation, information technology, plumbing and garment construction.
