Basseterre St. Kitts (April 27, 2010) -- Federal Minister of Youth Empowerment, Glenn Phillip, while dispelling romours that the Youth Empowerment through Skills (YES) Programme is to be disbanded, on Monday April 26 announced that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has offered further skills training opportunities for the programme’s students in that country.
“That is a component of the YES programme which we have not utilised as yet,” said Phillip. “We will be sending some of our students to Venezuela to further their skills training. Taking them to the South American country is going to be like an upper level portion of the Youth Empowerment through Skills (YES) Programme training.”
He pointed out that the Venezuelans are willing to take in students who will be exposed to computer, hospitality and other types of training disciplines within the YES Programme. They will not be going to Venezuela to do anything different from what they are currently but will be an extension of what they are doing, he stressed, only at a higher level.
While he did not divulge the number of students who will go to Venezuela, Minister Phillip observed that evaluation will be done to determine those students best suited to take up the training. The YES Programme will shortly embark on certification of the students already in the programme because the government does not want to send persons who are not qualified.
As to when the students will go to the South American country, Minister Phillip said: “We are working with the Venezuelans. They are ready for our students and right now it is up to us whenever we are ready and that is why I feel so strongly that certification has to be done, and this will be in a few weeks’ time.”
Following the swearing in of the new St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party-led government after the January 25 Federal elections, the YES Programme was put under the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, and Minister Phillip has said that the programme is transitioning to a higher level by being reformed in some aspects now that it has been running for one year since its launch.
“First of all we are making sure that the persons who attend the YES Programme and who have qualified are certified to ensure that at the end of the day it is not like a walk in the park,” he observed. “The students are basically going through classes, learning skills and thereafter they will get certificates that they will be able to use throughout the Federation.”
Disbandment of the YES Programme is not on the agenda at this point in time, he said. He however pointed out that some of the courses that persons attended have matured and noted that with some little tweaking, especially considering the harsh economic times that are still facing the nation, the government is making sure that after they have graduated from the programme they are not left on their own.
“We make sure that they do not exceed one year within the programme, so that they do not use it as a job per se,” clarified the Minister. “It is really a six-month skills training programme but we try and assist in those matters. We assess the situation if they cannot get a job and we try to get them back in the programme and train them for another six months in another discipline and by that time they should be able to matriculate to do their work.”
The other component the government has put in place to ensure a holistic approach to youth empowerment in the country is that within the YES Programme, persons who are interested in entrepreneurship, the Saint Kitts and Nevis Development Bank will assist them with soft loans of at least $10,000 to start their own business, announced the Youth Empowerment Minister.
