President Dr Irfaan Ali addressing participants who registered for the Welding Certification programme
Employment has been guaranteed for Guyanese participating in a new welding programme being facilitated by the Guyana Government through the School of the Nations and the Guyana Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarship initiative.
This commitment was made by President Dr Irfaan Ali during the programme’s registration exercise, held on Saturday, May 18.
During that activity, the Guyanese Leader disclosed that the initiative, being sponsored by the administration, is part of efforts to ensure that skilled Guyanese are gainfully employed and are benefitting from the country’s exponential growth.
A young man registering for the Welding Certification programme
This initiative would result in experienced and inexperienced individuals gaining certification in the field of welding. While the initial stage of the programme caters for 1000 locals, a total of 650 persons from the various regions have already registered, and are preparing to attend classes.
According to President Ali, the participants would be interacting with major companies in the oil and gas, natural resources, and infrastructure sectors, whose officials would be tasked with their supervision throughout the programme.
This, he explained, would ensure that all participants gain full and part-time employment, and have their welding skills upgraded to the highest level.
“By the time of completion for the programme, every single person must be willfully occupied, must be in employment or must be in service in this field that you’re training. That is the objective that we’re doing this programme with. We, as a Government, is committed to you. We want to see you succeed, we want to see you grow, we want to see you excel, and we’re going to make all the investment to ensure that you are the best you can be,” the Guyanese Leader said.
President Ali inspecting the welding equipment on display during Saturday’s registration exercise
After the first batch of participants graduate, Government would regionalise and expand the initiative to give individuals in remote areas a chance to be certified, given that the administration aims to train 3000 Guyanese through the initiative.
Participants have been encouraged to stay committed to their personal growth, support each other throughout the duration of the programme, and network and utilize this opportunity to their advantage.
“For some of you, it is going to be different. It’s going to be confining, it is going to be in a new environment, and it is going to test you. But that is life. We have to demonstrate ourselves to prove to ourself that we will open up the test and we will get the certification at the end of this programme,” the Head of State added.
