BASSETERRE ST. KITTS (January 13, 2010) -- Thirty-six successful graduates of the Youth Empowerment through Skills (YES) Programme on Monday January 11, embarked on the second phase of their computer training course at the National ICT Centre at the CAP Southwell Industrial Site. The course will lead to their being internationally certified.
According to Colin Frank, manager of the National ICT Centre, the thirty-six had been enrolled for computer skills training course during the first phase of the YES Programme training last year. The classes were conducted at three different locations, one class each at KVK on Cayon Street and at Old Road and two classes at the ICT Centre
“The thirty-six would have gone through a four-month training period initially, which was basically introductory, general application type courses,” said Frank. “These are the ones who the instructors recommended move on to a more advanced course. Now they are back to do it and will lead to them being certified in the International Certification Drivers License (ICDL).”
At the end of the course, which is expected to last nearly four months, they will write the ICDL exams, and if they pass, they will be awarded an internationally recognised certification that can be used anywhere in the world to obtain a job. The thirty-six have been divided into two classes, one conducted by Pierre Bowrin and has 24 students and the other conducted by Rawle Maynard and has 12 students.
Dean Mentos, 34, from Saddlers Village, a student under Pierre Bowrin commented that as a single mother of three who was unemployed, she chose to do the computer course because “in this day and age, computer and modern technology is everywhere in the world and it is going to take over everything in the job market.”
She told that with an ICDL certificate she would be in a position to get a respectable job, and also be in a position to pass on some of the information to her children who are doing computers lessons in their schools, and teach them what they do not know yet. She trained under instructor Melvin Agard at Old Road for the introductory course..
“The YES Programme is helping young people,” said Mentos. “It is empowering us to get something better in life for the future. The benefit will be coming to us directly and it is up to us if we come here and do not learn what we are supposed to learn. For me, the YES Programme is a great idea. I will thank the Prime Minister and his government for having come up with that idea.”
Twenty-two year old Samantha Allen of Conaree, a student under instructor Rawle Maynard, has ambitions to be a lawyer.. Before she joined the YES Programme, she worked at the Marriott but was one of the unfortunate ones, who were laid off. She joined YES Programme in September and finished the first training phase on December 15.
“I was not entirely new to computers. I had some limited knowledge of computers and that is how I was able to catch up with those that were in class before me and finish the course at the same time with them,” said Allen in explaining how she was able to finish the first phase of training in much shorter time.
“I have always wanted to be a lawyer and by being computer literate, it will be of a great help because computers are now being used in all spheres of life,” said Allen. “A lawyer has to be computer literate to be able to produce most of the legal documents. This course is now giving me the knowledge of what programmes that I will need to use in my kind of work.”
Apart from the advanced computer courses for the YES Programme students, another three classes catering for the first phase of the course are also ongoing. The National ICT Centre manager, Colin Frank, explained that there is a group of 20 students that started the first phase training late last year and are therefore expected to finish the course by end of February.
He further stated that the computer-training course for the YES Programme students is still ongoing and not anywhere near closing, as two new classes started on Monday January 11. The classes, one which has 20 students and the other has 10 but will increase to 20 by next week, will run until the end of May.
