Minister McCoy – “ICT has great relevance to our future sustenance”

24 students from Agricola can now boast of possessing skills in the Information Communication
Technology (ICT) sector, as they graduated Friday from a government sponsored training.
Public Affairs Minister, Kwame McCoy, facilitated the graduation ceremony at the St. Anne’s
Primary school in the village. The youths were trained in areas of Computer Literacy, Internet
Computing and Office Productivity. McCoy stressed the importance of the ICT sector to the
development of the country.

“ICT is one of the areas that has great, great relevance to our future sustenance and how we will
be able to operate in the future, in the world of work, in community development, in the various
aspects of our functioning in society. Information and Communication Technology forms a very
important role and for that reason, we have been deliberately targeting our young children, our
teenagers, even adults, to be able to have exposure to ICT,” the minister said.
The public affairs minister appealed to the graduates to continue in the sector, as the training is
just the foundation. He pointed out that there are many avenues of study in the ICT sector. “I
challenge you this afternoon, to make the best use of what you’ve learned so far, to challenge
yourself, to go for more, to go after more knowledge in ICT. And I can assure you with that
attitude, you will guarantee a great future,” he said.
McCoy said that through education and development, the perception of Agricola could be
changed. He urged the youths to be educated and transform the image of the community. The
one-week training, that was facilitated by Sean Renville, began on November 29 and concluded
on Friday. He revealed that the initiative was one of over 30 training programmes already
conducted countrywide by the Prime Minister’s Office, through the Industry and Innovation
Unit. The first training was held in Kilcoy/Chesney, East Berbice Corentyne (Region Six).