See below the full statement issued:
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service Dr. Ashni Singh today urged Toshaos of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) to ensure that they, as well as the residents of their respective communities, take full advantage of all of the training opportunities being offered by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government as he outlined the various areas of opportunities and agencies under Government’s Human Capital Development programme.
“We want every single Amerindian citizen to upgrade and uplift their skills. Since we came into office, we have trained over 6,000 persons from Regions 1,7,8 and 9, including 2000 under BIT, in areas such as Heavy Duty Equipment Operation (HDEO), commercial food preparation, cosmetology, garment construction, electrical engineering, welding and fabrication, small engine repairs and ICT, among other areas,” Dr. Singh explained.
Earlier, the Minister had told Toshaos that Government was continuing to make significant investments in hinterland and Amerindian communities as the PPP/C administration is ‘committed to improving and building strong and sustainable economies in every single Amerindian village’. He then homed in on the Human Capital Development aspect of Government’s initiatives and how training and development of skills and employment opportunities for indigenous people was another important area the Government was focusing on to generally improve the lives of all indigenous people.
The Senior Minister listed the various training programmes being offered by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), a subvention agency of the Ministry of Finance, which has collaborated with other sectoral agencies to do training in areas such as water & sanitation, hygiene and cooking as part of development in the tourism industry among others.
The Senior Minister noted that through BNTF about 380 persons were trained, for instance, at Mainstay and Mashabo in Region 2, while scholarships are continuously offered through the Ministry of Public Service.
“We have granted since 2020, nearly 200 scholarships from hinterland regions, not only to attend UG but to study overseas, while under the GOAL scholarship programme- over 3000 persons have benefitted from GOAL scholarships from Regions 1.7,8 and 9- and many amongst your leadership have emerged from that scholarship programme and have distinguished themselves and raised their educational level,” Dr. Singh emphasized.
On this note, he urged Toshaos and other representatives to visit the GOAL booth at the ACCC, especially persons residing in indigenous communities with ICT hubs provided by Government, to uplift application forms and send them in to make full use of the online and other training opportunities being offered.
The National Toshaos Council conference is slated to conclude on Friday.
