Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
June 13, 2001

YOUTH is that integral component of a community that holds the key to the future of any country.

Therefore any amount of money and time spent on training skills for this important section of the community must be looked at as an investment for the future.

The investment must be looked at as a fund that would help these people later in life to make a future for themselves and at the same time make a contribution to society.

It augurs well for a country like ours with a sizable youth population, when such programmes are presented to them for various skills.

Only recently the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports announced job attachments for some 83 young people in various establishments in the country.

We believe that skills training for youth is something all Guyanese should support, and the ministry should be commended for embarking on such a plan for the youth population.

While we acknowledge that this plan would help to ease unemployment, we feel training skills should be extended to other categories of the population to include battered women and delinquent and homeless children.

Merely putting battered women and street children in homes is not enough.

There should be training programmes for them which will equip them with a much needed skill when they re-enter society after rehabilitation.

To supplement such schemes as may already exist for them, training centres or factories could be set up in different locations to offer training in various fields including upholstery, tile laying and block making.

At the same time this will give them a chance to earn some money for themselves during training.

We are certain there are individuals out there with the necessary skills who might be willing to help with the training in some of the areas.

We strongly feel that such programmes should include battered women especially. Putting them away in homes would make them believe that they are finished in society and that they are being locked away.

They should be helped to understand that placing them in these homes or shelters is only a makeshift programme which will prepare them to go out there and face society without any dependence after rehabilitation.

If this is done, and done very quickly, with a little help to get started, these very people could own and run businesses and continue to live a normal life.

Once these training centres or factories are established and these people are involved in the training exercises, each should be able to re-enter society with a determined desire to be the master of his/her own destiny.

With such additional schemes, these battered women and homeless children would be able to stand up and be counted.

They need all the help they can get to re-enter mainstream society as independents who would cause no annoyance to anyone.