Govt. a natural resources curriculum for secondary schools
K.
Minister for Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat.
Aieteur News – The Ministry of Natural Resources hopes to implement an adequate natural resources curriculum in high schools throughout Guyana.
This hopes to break down stereotypes about the natural resource industry, equipping young people with the necessary knowledge needed to enter the sector, and boosting local capacity, says Natural Resources Minister Vickram Barrat.
The Minister made this disclosure on a recent edition of the Budget in Focus program.
He said that the Ministry already has a program called “Youth in Natural Resources” aimed at “getting young people back into the natural resources sector,” and will continue. However, even with that program, there is a need to step back and observe the trend that has been occurring over the years while there is a decline in the number of young people entering the natural resources sector. However, many young people hesitate before entering the “technical science field” in secondary schools across the country. But Bharrat believes that the field of technical science is where the interest in natural resources may be initiated.
He said that most students choose to go into the business and arts flow, because it may become more fashionable and add to that “… .This thing is Guyana and they are doing it hear from others … it’s easy to get into those fields than science or the technical field so I think we as leaders … need to address that issue because very soon we will not have many technically trained people in the natural resources sector locally and that will be a problem. “
Bharrat stressed that as the natural resources sector continues to grow, opportunities will be created in oil and gas and mining as several large-scale companies will soon start production. For example, he noted that Troy Resources and the Zijin Company (operating in Aurora mines) would soon venture into underground mining and unfortunately, Guyana does not have locals skilled in monitoring or even evaluating underground mining.
The Minister lamented that the government does not want young Guyanese to venture into these fields as mere laborers. “We do not want our young people to go as mere laborers or become cooks. We want them to go as supervisors, as managers, as technical workers, so we’re moving away from being just laborers or just the guys in the pool, ”Bharrat outlined. According to the Minister, young Guyanese must have the opportunity to be “the guys running the show from behind the scenes.”
Further, Bharrat noted that if everything goes fine as it relates to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and students are back in classrooms, the Ministry of Natural Resources will take the lead in implementing the curriculum and cooperate with Ministry of Education to ensure that young people are motivated and encouraged to see natural resources as profitable.
“That’s the kind of vision we have for the natural resources sector. But as I mentioned we need to go back a little to high school level where we influence our young people to get into the natural resources, the science stream … technical stream because I think that’s where it starts, ”Bharrat added.