First lady launches certified training in ICT at Annai

The first ever certified training programme in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) was launched on Tuesday at the Bina Hill Institute Youth Learning Centre in Region Nine.

First Lady, Sandra Granger, urged the first batch of participants to take advantage of the opportunity to learn useful skills to develop their communities.

Thirty-four students from the Bina Hill Institute Youth Learning Centre will benefit from the training programme.

The workshop is in collaboration with Mrs Granger and the Ministry of Social Protection’s Board of Industrial Training. The three-week long workshop will also include STEM Robotics and Microenterprise. The Government in 2019 donated over $50million to the institute.

“I always say I do not want to conduct a workshop where people get a piece of paper and at the end of it, to put in a drawer.  The workshop must lead to the certification that leads to development and employment for the people who take part in it, and those people will be young people like yourselves or women [and] older people, who do the child care and senior care workshop,” the First Lady said.

The First Lady said it’s estimated by 2050 half of the jobs will be done by robots.

“So we have to start thinking now about how we fit into the scheme of things and do it in a gainful manner so we are not left just catching up all the time, but to be in front of it, to be programming,” the First Lady said.

The Principal of the Institute, Dr Laureen Pierre said the Institution has over the years struggled with accreditation and acquiring accredited programmes.

“So it’s wonderful that our students here will have that opportunity to be exposed to concept and ideas in ways of doing things a bit different, because some of them, while they might remain here in Region Nine or in the other regions, may have that opportunity to do internships immediately after graduation,” Dr. Pierre said.