20 graduate from apprenticeship programme
Once upon a time, apprenticeship was the way workplace skills were passed from one generation to the next. And while formal classroom education now claims the lion’s share of our resources, the apprenticeship system is making a comeback.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Nine of the twenty young men and women who successfully passed the apprenticeship programme showed up to accept their certificates.
Cordel Hyde, Minister of Education and Sports
“The Ministry of Labour was really the ministry that ran with the programme. The Ministry of Education supported it, evaluated the trainers and the trainees and that kind of stuff, but it’s something that the government will continue to support because we feel that interventions like these, as long as they are able to reach as many young people as possible, it is money well spent and time and effort well expended.”
Seventeen-year-old Ryan Gotoy is one of those proud young men who passed the course. Gotoy, a resident of Lucky Strike Village says with the support of the community he plans to establish his own carpentry business.
Ryan Gotoy, Seventeen years old
“Well I choose this skill because I think it’s the best. And I wah try work on my own, help out everybody who need help and so forth.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Will you be needing any kind of support to get started, or have you been receiving some assistance already?”
Ryan Gotoy
“No, I will need some help.”
Jacqueline Woods
“So if somebody would like to help you, where can they get in contact with you?”
Ryan Gotoy
“Lucky Strike, my phone number if 609-9735.”
Cordel Hyde
“When you consider the crime and some of the negative things in our society, and you understand that a lot of it has to do with the lack of marketable skills of our young people and the lack of their ability to get employed, a programme like this is instrumental in turning some of their lives around, so that they now have marketable skills and they understand how important it is to not only acquire those skills, but to have the right attitude so that they can first get a job, and then secondly survive on the job.”
Some of the graduates have already taken up employment at their various training sites. Hyde says for those other young persons still looking for a job, the ministry will see how it can assist. Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
The apprenticeship programme has suffered from a high dropout rate and Hyde says they are working hard to make adjustments that will ensure a higher percentage of graduates.
