Education Minister offers Government’s support to the Buxton/Friendship Youth Incubator
The Buxton/Friendship Youth Incubator was launched on Saturday at the Tipperary Hall in the village of Buxton, East Coast Demerara.
The Honourable Minister of Education Priya Manickchand who delivered the feature address congratulated the members of the organisation on their initiative.
The intention of the incubator is to foster overall development of young adults in the Buxton/Friendship Community through empowerment and mentorship.
She expressed her optimism and excitement about the potential outcomes of the work the organisation had undertaken and what it represents.
The Education Minister said the nation’s youth are our prized resource. She said, “they (youths) are the ones charged with innovating, and creating the transformations necessary for the realisation of our country’s potential going forward.”
Because of the importance of the youths, Minister Manickchand said that as a nation, we are duty-bound to provide the necessary support structures to ensure they don’t just exist, but thrive.
She said that issues such as education, health, employment, violence, poverty and others, continue to confront youths, some of whom are oftentimes ill-equipped to effectively navigate these challenges.
“This organisation therefore, deserves praise for firstly recognising the needs of our youth in the community and secondly taking the initiative to address same. Your efforts represent the disposition and spirit needed to effectively improve our society,” Minister Manickchand remarked.
She said the Government of Guyana has a mandate to create an enabling environment for organisations such as the Incubator to flourish.
“It is at the community level that you are most attuned to the realities of our citizens and ideally positioned to have a positive impact. It does take a village to raise a child and the more we band together to provide the safeguards and promote the healthy environments within which our young people can self-actualise, the better a nation we will be,” the Education Minister noted.
She said that her presence at the Organisation’s Launch Ceremony signals the Government’s willingness to support such grassroots efforts to build Guyana one community at a time.
Minister Manickchand encouraged other communities and segments of society, such as the private sector to see value in supporting similar efforts in youth and community development.
The Minister said that she would like to see the Buxton/Friendship Youth Incubator written boldly across the fabric of Guyanese society as another success in community-based advancement.