Mentorship programme to be launched soon
GINA, GUYANA, Monday, February 20, 2017
The Ministry of Education, Department of Youth’s Mentorship programme is set to be rolled out in March 2017, with its target being students in Georgetown.
The programme aims to address the social ills and challenges that the students face, according to Director of Youth, Melissa Carmichael.
Carmichael told the Government Information Agency (GINA), in a recent interview that the available mentors will be deployed to most of the schools in Georgetown.
Director of Youth, Melissa Carmichael
Carmichael added that the Youth Department “would have made connection with the Sport Commission and the Director of Culture to recruit persons who are specialists in sport using their database, as well as the persons who are skilled and qualified in the arts areas to come on board as mentors.”
The mentors will be given a curriculum for the students to follow which caters for career development, career guidance and social challenges that they face on a daily basis, Carmichael explained. She noted that the Ministry’s peer educators will also join the mentorship programme to assist with those recruited for the programme.
The Youth Director highlighted that the assigned peer educators will focus mainly on educating the students about sexuality, teenage pregnancy and the other social issues that they face.
“We don’t want the programme in the school system to be too excessive, so we want our mentors to multi-task while the peer educators will speak to the students about the social ills and challenges they face, Carmichael added.
The mentorship programme will aid the Ministry of Education, Department of Culture, Youth and Sport in addressing the issues which the students face in the school system. This programme is part of the broader vision in the Ministry’s goal to provide a brighter future for the nation’s youths.
There is also another mentorship programme undertaken by the Office of the Presidential Advisor on Youth Empowerment which helps mentor and counsel youths across Guyana. The programme aims to train over 25 trainee Social Workers who will work with youth organisations and youths.
By: Neola Damon