BIT graduates shine as Guyana invests in skills for opportunity and change

– 88 persons graduated, over $310M invested in BIT

A recent graduate of the Board of Industrial Training (BIT), Ashanti Jeffery, who completed the Food and Commercial Preparation program, encourages everyone to try new things.

Jeffery said that with her free time, she decided to take the course to improve the skills she learned in secondary school.

Mabevi Ramnaraine, who took a course in agro-food processing, said it will guide her in a related subject that she teaches in high school.

Chandra Geer, who worked in the field of agro-food processing, took the course to better assist her students at Good Hope Secondary School.

She said that the knowledge she gained will assist her students in their daily life and their career paths in agriculture.

Euffa McLenna mentioned she is from a village where they plant a lot, but sometimes the food they produce gets wasted.

McLenna said she enrolled in agro-food processing to get a better understanding of how to preserve and process food.

These graduates were not alone. An additional 88 people graduated from BIT at Tipperary Hall in Buxton as the government invests in skills training to meet the demands of the job market.

The training, which spanned over the course of four months, offered courses ranging from food and commercial preparation, argo-food processing, information technology, and furniture making.

This training programme was launched in response to an evident need to develop skills across all the regions of Guyana.

The goal has been to empower communities to create opportunities and enable individuals to improve their lives.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Chief Executive Officer of BIT, Richard Maughn, said it is not about the number of people who graduated today but their individual stories and their determination to push beyond the limit.

“I want to say to you that you cannot be contented by just receiving the certificate today, you have to push beyond the limit,” he said.

Maughn noted that in the last five years, the government has invested in over 15,000 individuals through BIT.

He noted that the programme directly impacted 4,571 persons in Region Four alone.

Maughn emphasised that it is not “just numbers, but stories of success, stories of people pushing beyond the limits” to make sure that they receive skills that keep pace with the rapid development and the jobs that come with it.

The government has invested $310,789,459 in the past five years to help BIT ensure that all citizens can empower themselves and lead better lives through training and jobs.