Firm stance on inclusivity in training programmes being taken by Guyana Labour ministry

Guyana’s Labour Minister, Joseph Hamilton has made it clear that persons living with disabilities should be provided with equal employment and training opportunities.

Hamilton, on Tuesday, said those persons must be accepted into the regular training programmes so that they do not feel excluded. “When you are training persons with disabilities, they should be part and parcel of the training you are doing. It should not be done as a segment of the population, that don’t help them, that don’t motivate them, that don’t uplift them,” he told the media.

Minister Hamilton pointed out that persons living with disabilities should not be discriminated against in workplaces by employers or other employees. The minister stressed the ministry’s firm stance when dealing with such reports.

“The Labour Ministry continues to supervise those things, any report that comes to us suggesting that a person is discriminated against by any employer, we will deal with it,” he added.

The ministry through the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) has recognised the deficiencies in the training of persons living with disabilities and has put measures in place to ensure their full participation in the technical training programmes.

It was noted that stakeholders from the various sectors have been engaged to emphasise their obligation to creating safe spaces for persons living with disabilities.

Hamilton, while commending initiatives put forward by Non-Governmental Organisations, noted that there must be a strong framework to guarantee inclusion by persons living with disabilities.

“We will continue to do that type of collaboration, whether with churches, our sister ministries or other agencies and I say to others that have not signed on, do that because all of us must do it together … It cannot just be for the sake of influence; it must be for the sake of changing people’s lives, that is what we want,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, Hamilton stressed that equal opportunities are also available for women, as he restated the call for them to take part in more technical training programmes.

The minister noted that in this regard, the ministry will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Guyana Energy Agency to train 70 women in hinterland communities to become solar panel technicians.