Have broader world outlook -- President urges GTI graduates
Guyana Chronicle
December 16, 2006
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday urged students graduating from the Government Technical Institute (GTI) not to be confined to knowledge about their own discipline.
“For you to succeed in today’s world you have to have a vision, a broader world outlook. You have to understand that the people who succeed in today’s world are people with multi-cultural skills who are multi-tasked, who are familiar with the development in other disciplines”, he urged at the graduation and prize-giving ceremony at the National Cultural Centre in Georgetown.
“Everything is connected in today’s world and the faster you learn that and the greater the effort that you make to learn about areas outside of your discipline, to give you a background and focus, then the more successful you’re going to be,” the Head of State added.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) said he urged the graduates not to be sucked into narrow visions since there is already too much of that in Guyana.
The agency said he pointed out that today there is a battle between forces “that want to keep us confined to a narrow vision and the forces that a wide world out there know that it is not very sympathetic, but feel that we can, with the right strategies, with the right effort, create a better life for all of our people.”
“Subscribe to that larger vision; in your personal life as well as your social life. If you do that, I assure you….you will be successful,” Mr. Jagdeo said.
“Once we work hard at it, our economy would become robust. We can generate more opportunities here and we can provide a better life for all of our people and rewarding jobs for all of you,” he told the graduates.
On employment opportunities and concerns about this issue, President Jagdeo said his government’s vision for the country is one that embraces its modernisation, GINA reported.
According to the agency, he said Guyana is in a very important period in world history due to developments in several fields, such as the globalisation of markets and of capital and the advances in biotechnology and micro electronics.
“These have occasioned some very rapid changes. Changes that are disposing of age old systems that the world, and especially developing countries have grown accustomed to…and if we cannot respond to these changes in a way that garner the opportunities provided by the changes and avoid the pitfalls associated with these changes, we may (see) a loss in national welfare. This is something we cannot allow.”
GINA said the President expressed the hope that more businesses would come on board and join the government in its endeavour to upgrade and fully support educational facilities such as technical institutes, since, in most cases the businesses are the ultimate beneficiaries of the training carried out at such institutions.
“But I can assure that my government would not await that effort, and whilst we urge them to come on board, we will, ourselves continue to put more resources available at the disposal of these institutions,” he said.
President Jagdeo said training must continue to be improved at the educational facilities as the government continues to train persons in several technical areas.
He also informed the gathering that the government will be constructing two more technical institutes in Regions Three and Five.
Chairman of the Board of Governors of the GTI, Major General (retired) Norman McLean, who also addressed the graduates and other invitees, urged the private businesses as well to come on board and support the technical institutions.
GINA said McLean expressed disappointment that though invited to the event, representatives of the main opposition party and members of the diplomatic corps did not attend the function which was of major importance to the graduates, who would be part of the future workforce of the country.
The Valedictorian at this year’s GTI’s graduation ceremony was Tessa Van Tull who gained a Distinction in Secretarial Science.
Other students gained credit and passes in other disciplines, including electrical engineering, telecommunications, welding, agricultural machinery, motor vehicle works and mechanical engineering.