Guyana: Labour ministry attends meet with UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Guyana: Representatives of the Ministry of Labour and the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, attended a meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to discuss the preparation of the delivery of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes to Venezuelans migrants based in Guyana.

The introduction meeting was attended by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Bishram Kuppen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Board of Industrial Training, Richard Maughn, Occupational Safety and Health Consultant, Gwyneth King and Senior Technical Officers at BIT, Bevon Sheperd and Leon Greaves.

Plans for a legal framework will be looked at by the officials.

A day earlier, the ministry organized a training session for the residents of Mahdia, Region Eight to make them eligible to earn their living through logging and mining. However, technical and vocational training availability for residents of the region over the years was limited, but this practice came to a halt thanks to the Board of Industrial Training and the Ministry of Labour’s delivery of community-based, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Programmes.

On Monday, October 3, 2022, Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton, Region Eight Technical Officer, and Jermaine Geness, among other officials of the Labour Ministry, are currently in the region on a three-day official visit to examine training programmes presently ongoing in Central Mahdia, among other labour related matters.

The minister and team engaged twenty-two (22) Heavy Duty Equipment Operation (HDEO) trainees, comprised of ten (10) females and twelve (12) males, ten (10) male trainees of Welding and Fabrication and nineteen (19) females of the Cosmetology programme.

The HDEO, Welding and Fabrication trainees anxiously interacted with the minister and gave the visiting team an opportunity to witness their practical sessions. Unfortunately, the batch of cosmetology trainees were not able to display their skills since the class is still in the theocratical stage of the programme.