Today will see the first in a series of graduations across the country as 726 participants in the last year’s Apprenticeship Programme under the National Training Programme for Youth Empowerment (NTPYE) receive their certificates of completion,Sale NFL Jerseys, says Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Industrial Training,NFL Jerseys Cheap, Alana Brassington.The programme which is conducted over six months is open to any Guyanese between the ages of 15 and 25. This student must be willing to learn certain trades first hand.If an applicant expresses a desire to operate in any of the training areas offered,Cheap NFL Jerseys Store, then they are placed with a company that actually operates within that field. There they serve as an apprentice. Over the six-month period they gain firsthand knowledge of the job and develop specific skills necessary to work in the field.They are also supplied with a number of basic skills in other areas,Jerseys NFL Cheap, such as remedial Maths and English as well as training in certain life skills such as HIV/AIDS awareness and Planned Parenthood.According to Brassington,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, the trainees are not left entirely to their own devices at the companies. They are trained in accordance with core curriculum that are models of the ones used at the Government Technical Institute.Classroom materials are culled from the core curriculum since most of the apprentices are doing actual hands-on work.She noted that these curriculums are evaluated along with the training providers to create specific timeframes for the completion of certain tasks. As a result,Wholesale Jerseys Authenitc, when the Board’s inspectors make their monthly checks on the apprentices throughout the country,Cheap NFL Jerseys Shop, they are able to measure the progress of each apprentice against a checklist of preset deliverables.Training is undertaken in almost every Region of the country. The exceptions are Regions Eight and Nine where the communities are too widely spread out and too far into the hinterlands for easy access.Brassington cited this as a constraint to the programme in a number of Hinterland locations since the apprentices are awarded? $4,Cheap NFL Jerseys co,000 as travelling stipend each month.The Board therefore tries not to place them too far away from their homes – clearly a difficult task considering the distance between settlements in certain regions. The intent is to ensure that the number of drop outs is not exacerbated by factors such as the training being too far away or too costly for the applicant.Brassington will be present at every graduation ceremony over the next few days. She makes it a point to chair them all. This first one is being held in the Essequibo area to allow for the graduation of Region One and Two NTYPE Apprentices.

The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has deemed this year’s national budget as anti-working class.“This is said not only from the perspective of trade union interest, but also from the standpoint of the inequity of budgetary treatment relative to other classes and sectional interests in the society.“In a budget of $161.4 billion, workers at best, have been treated to a mere $5,000 per month increase in the tax threshold. That translates to an increased purchasing power of $1,667 weekly or $56 daily – less than the price of a loaf of bread. Indeed, this take home would be lessened by inflation, hikes in NIS, and further diminished by VAT. In any case, many workers would not benefit from this so called ‘generosity’ since the majority of public servants, who are numbered among the employed poor, earn less than $35,China Jerseys Free Shipping,000 per month.”The union noted too that this increase in threshold, coming as it did three years after it was last increased, in 2008, is still below what it should be, that is $485,000, when inflation for the past three years is taken into account.“At this early stage too, it is apposite to remark that the government, as far back as 2009, grudgingly acknowledged that the minimum wage should be $50,000 per month, since it used that figure as the cut-off for the payment of the cost-of-living allowance of $4,000 per month. If the government has so acknowledged,Wholesale Jerseys, why,Cheap NFL Jerseys, two years after, it could not see fit to increase the minimum wage and threshold to at least $50,000 per month, thereby bringing some tangible relief to public servants?”TaxRegarding the announcing of a reduction in the rates of income tax for commercial and non-commercial companies,Wholesale Jerseys, with the exception of the telecommunications companies,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, GPSU says that while it applauds this initiative and congratulates the private sector on winning this concession, “how can a ‘working class’ government not see it fit to simultaneously reduce the burdensome rate of individual income tax, which is kept at a staggering 33S! percent?”Guyanese workers, the union argues, are paying a higher rate of tax, at 33S! percent than their counterparts in many other CARICOM countries, for example, Trinidad and Tobago,Nike NFL Jerseys China, where incomes are far higher, but where the tax rate is only 25 percent. The tax is also unreasonably compounded by the 16 percent VAT on consumer goods.“Despite several representations and submissions by the union which culminated with the proposal for increases in wages and salaries for the years 2010-2012,Cheap Jerseys From China, government has shown total disinterest in negotiations and has highhandedly made paltry awards of increases to workers. The union however notes that the provision for revision of wages and salaries for the year 2011 was set at $3.461B, which is approximately 15 percent of the wages and salaries budget of $23.080B. We know from previous experience that that increase will not necessarily be paid to public servants since all manner of expenditure is met from the category ‘revision of wages and salaries’.”GPSU maintained that even if one assumes that the entire 15 percent was to be paid, the budget presentation fell “woefully” short of clarity.“Not only have the increases meted out to public servants been deemed inadequate to meet the definition of a living wage in the context of Guyana, but also the “across the board” methodology used for payment has had human resources consequences, such as bunching, overlapping pay scales,Nike Air Max 95, deterioration in the relativities between scales, and exaggeration of the gap between the incomes of Scale 1 (unskilled worker) and Scale 14 (Permanent Secretary).”Contract employeesThe budget further showed a marked increase in contracted employees’ wages/salaries by 9.5 percent, moving from $4.65 billion in 2010 to $5.14 billion in 2011.“This has several implications for the security and interest of public servants, in that it shows a growing and worrying trend of the government to bypass the traditional public service in favor of recruitment outside that body, which is an independent body under the constitution; it creates a means of paying emoluments that are substantially higher than traditional public servants to favoured workers of the government even though similar duties and/or similar responsibilities are assigned; and it recognises the need for comprehensive reform in pay and other conditions of service.”GPSU said it is once agai

On Sunday evening, the Regma Primary school in Linden, honoured 87 children who were outstanding at the recent National Grade Six Assessment. The occasion was the graduation exercise.Stealing the spotlight was Terron Alleyne, who topped the country at the examination, and created history in Linden.Alleyne walked away with trophies for topping in science, Social Studies and English, and also for copping the coveted top position in the country. He also received a plaque from his school and a pledge of $25,000 from Minister Shaik Baksh, who graced the occasion, and congratulated the students and teachers.Third and sixth place students, Carol Hopkinson and Teryka Mohabir, also received trophies for their creditable performances.Terron AlleyneBaksh said that he wanted to be a part of the celebrations not only to congratulate the students and teachers of the school, but also to send a strong message to other schools in Linden which have not performed creditably, to take Regma School as a model for next year.Baksh declared, “I came here to be with you at this graduation exercise, to celebrate with you, your satisfaction and your happiness at the outstanding achievements of the Regma Primary School, at the National Grade Six Assessments.He described the school’s achievement this year as a quantum leap in performance from last year. “To be able to obtain eight places in the first one percent is indeed very, very outstanding”.Commenting on the overview by Headmistress of the school,Supply NFL Jerseys, Mary Haywood, Baksh noted that 22 of the students would be going to that ‘excellent school, the Mackenzie High School’.He said that looking back at the performance of the Mackenzie High School for 2010 in terms of the overall pass rate and matriculation- that is obtained five subjects at CSEC with English and Mathematics, the school has performed excellently. “It means then that twenty two students will be going to a top ranking school in Guyana.”Of the 87 students who graduated, 22 goes to Mackenzie High; 24? will attend senior secondary schools in Georgetown- five each for St Joseph and St Roses high, three for St Stanislaus and four for Bishops’ High.Six students would be heading to the Wismar Christianburg Multilateral, three for the New Silver City Secondary, 23 for the Linden Foundation and nine for Wisburg Secondary.The pride of the school,NFL Jerseys China, seven, are heading to Queen’s College. They are Terron Alleyne, Carol Hopkinson, Teryka Mohabir, Aliyah Gill, Aliyah Thom, Seon Hodge and Shebeekie JacksonThe Minister urged those students who did not perform so well,NFL Jerseys Wholesale, to develop a greater determination to succeed. He also exhorted them,Wholesale Jerseys Cheap, to spend more time reading and doing homework.He also challenged parents to start putting their children first, and to ensure that they receive a sound education, not only in academia,Cheap NFL Jerseys, but also in other areas.Baksh said that he had listened to the head teacher who said that the school focuses on all-round development of the child.He expressed the hope that other schools would emulate the Regma. He declared to the huge gathering of students,wholesale nfl jerseys china, teachers and well wishers, to resounding applause, “We must maintain, we must sustain this performance in 2012!”He acknowledged that the success achieved by Regma, would not have been possible without the teachers dedication to their charges, and a proactive PTA.Guest speaker Valerie Adams, after congratulating the students, parents and teachers, thanked the teachers for what she described as the 360 degree turn around in the grade six results.Adams urged parents to be more supportive of their children, and pointed out that the greatest effect on a student’s achievement is the effectiveness of the teacher.She noted, “Many communities outside of Linden believe that we only have the potential to protest and block bridges, but we have proven to them once again, that we have the ability to run things!”Adams prophesied that Linden will become the community that feeds the nation,Wholesale NFL Jerseys Online, and the community to which the nation will turn for answers.Invitees were later treated to more than an hour of entertaining drama,NFL Jerseys Wholesale, dance and poetry by the graduating students, who were all in high spirits, and celebrated through these art forms.