Guyana Defence Force personnel are to benefit from army, naval and air force training courses offered by the Government of India with Lieutenant Coast Guard Derrick Johnson being the first recipient of a Naval scholarship.
As stated in an Indian High Commis-sion release yesterday, the Government of India has offered 19 defence training slots to Guyana Defence Force under its Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. These training slots include 10 army courses, 4 naval courses and 5 air force courses. These courses are of different durations (3 to 6 months) and will be spread over multiple months and conducted in different time periods during 2021-2022. Johnson is likely to leave for India soon for the Long N Course at ND School, Kochi, Kerala, in July 2021.
This is the first time that Guyana has had access to these military training programmes.
According to the release, under the ITEC programme, the Government of India covers all expenses related to this training and provides the trainees return air ticket, accommodation charges, tuition fee, living expenses, medical expenses, and external and internal tours as per course curriculum.
Up until 2020, India normally offered 50 training slots annually to Guyana for skill development and capacity building through various courses of Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. Over 650 Guyanese scholars who had already received training under ITEC Programme are contributing effectively to Guyana so far. In May-June this year, India has already provided training to 25 media professionals from Guyana under ITEC. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple e-ITEC online courses have been held in 2020-21, and have benefitted over 10 Guyanese participants, the release added.
