The Ministry of Natural Resources yesterday launched its third Annual Youth Apprenticeship programme at the Herdmanston Lodge.
A release from the Ministry said that the new cohort of 30 youth participants were given an overview of the programme including snippets of previous activities and testimonials from previous apprentices.
There was also a charge by Raphael Trotman, Minister of Natural Resources who said that the primary objectives of the programme were to “urgently involve youth in the protection and preservation of our natural resources and to secondly, portray work in the extractive industries as an honourable vocation”.
The release said that the Youth in Natural Resources Programme is the brainchild of Trotman and welcomed its first group of 16 youth participants in 2017.
The release added that the programme gives apprentices a firsthand experience of the functioning and operations of the sector and in-depth understanding of resource management, environmental care, green business opportunities etc.
In the coming weeks, the release said that the youths will visit gold, bauxite mining and forestry operations and contiguous communities as well as petroleum companies. They will travel along the Berbice River, visit Fairview on the Essequibo River, the Savannahs of the Rupununi en route to Lethem and New Amsterdam and Skeldon among interesting places.
The release said that the event was attended by Sydney Allicock, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs; George Norton, Minister of Social Cohesion; Valerie Garrido-Lowe, Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs and others.
