Free training aims to help more Guyanese become employed in lucrative tech fields
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — An initiative to create more qualified workers for coding jobs in Guyana is pushing full steam ahead and looking for more participants.
Thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Guyanese government and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the training is being offered free of charge.
The programme initially launched in January, but the government is renewing its call for participants to meet an ambitious quota of 150,000 Guyanese to be trained.
In a recent statement, it reminded the general public and those who may be interested that “registration is ongoing for Guyanese across the country to be equipped and trained as computer programmers, software developers, among other skillsets as part of the 150k Guyana Coders Initiative (GCI).”
It advised, “For the next three years, 150,000 Guyanese 14 years and older will receive free instruction in the fundamentals of computer coding as part of this initiative.”
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Programme participants will become equipped to take up high-earning jobs in Guyana.
Further, their employability will be significantly enhanced, qualifying them to earn jobs abroad as their skills would be recognized by the UAE.
According to the Guyanese government, “This initiative aims to teach Guyanese the necessary skills to work as IT technicians, systems administrators, cybersecurity analysts and other related positions, which include animation, website creation and software engineering.
“A certificate will be issued upon completion of the programme and will be recognized by the UAE.”
It will also bolster the Guyanese government’s efforts to diversify the economy, which has been a common theme amongst Caribbean nations especially in the wake of the tourism-devastating COVID-19 pandemic.
In fact, Guyanese President Dr. Irfaan Ali previously hinted at further plans to develop Guyana’s technology sector.
At the time of the MoU signing, he signaled that Guyana would be “prepared to serve as a center” for coding and tech for the benefit of other CARICOM Member States in the future.
The government’s most recent notice reiterated this, noting that the GCI Programme “aligns with the government’s transformative plans to make Guyana a center for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), which will ultimately transform the nation into a hub for data services, data centers and data banks.”
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