Statement by Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Address at the National Graduation Ceremony of the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme

Address by the Honourable Patrick Manning Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago at the National Graduation Ceremony of the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme (YTEPP) limited.

• Madame Chairperson
• The Honourable Fitzgerald Jeffrey, Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education.
• The Regional Manager of YTEPP Tobago, Senator the Honourable June Melville
• The Chairman of the Board of Directors of YTEPP, Mrs Jennifer Johnson
• Members of the Board of Directors
• The Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Nigel Forgenie and members of staff of YTEPP
• Graduates and their guests
• Corporate Partners
• Specially Invited Guests
• Members of the Media
• Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

I welcome this opportunity to address you at this national graduation ceremony of the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme (YTEPP) Limited. I congratulate the Board and Management of the company on another outstanding success. Approximately four thousand, two hundred and eighty six successful participants are now eligible for certification, each having trained in one of fourteen occupational areas. You are certainly faithful to YTEPP’s mission “to transform young persons into marketable employees and entrepreneurs who can positively contribute to Trinidad and Tobago in its pursuit of developed country status”.

Congratulations are also in order to the young people who participated in the programme and emerged with success. You have demonstrated the capacity for self-improvement and for meeting challenges. You have been disciplined and focused on acquiring skills that will position you to take advantage of the great opportunities for progress that are now available in Trinidad and Tobago. You didn’t take the easy way out. You have demonstrated strength of character, which will be your greatest asset in the years ahead. You can now pursue your individual dreams and contribute to the stability and development of the society. Congratulations.

We must also pay tribute to the instructors in the programme as well as the families and friends of the graduates who supported our participants as they pursued their development. It is another example of how interconnected we are as human society; a fact that is underscored by our relatively small size as a nation and the community of Trinidad and Tobago. It is a reminder that we must each play our best part for the development of all.

Since its inception, the YTEPP programme has played a key role in youth empowerment in Trinidad and Tobago. For example, since 2002, over forty four thousand young people have been trained for the workplace. Training has been provided in various areas including construction, metal works, electricity and electronics, agriculture, applied arts, auto mechanics, culinary arts, garment construction, secretarial, business and support services, computer literacy, entrepreneurial development, tourism and beauty culture. Clearly, this programme has been playing its part in strengthening the workforce of Trinidad and Tobago.

It is the objective of the entire training policy of our administration. We recognize an empowered human resource as key to the sustainable development to which we aspire. Our programmes have already borne abundant fruit. Ladies and Gentlemen, over the last eight years, we have ensured that over one hundred and fifty thousand individuals have acquired skills for the modern workplace through our various programmes like YTEPP, the Multi Sector Skills Training Programme( MuST) the Help Youth Prepare for Employment Programme (HYPE), On the Job Training, the Youth Apprenticeship Programme in Agriculture (YAPA) and through the Metal Industries Company, the National Energy Skills Centre and the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. We consider the provision of technical and vocational education as an indispensable aspect of national development. Sustainable progress demands that we strengthen the bank of skills in Trinidad and Tobago.

The development of people is the focus of my administration. Glowing macro economic statistics, though important, are not enough for us. We have also never been great believers in the trickle down theory for the spreading of wealth and opportunity throughout the society. We recognize that effective government intervention is necessary, if we are to avoid social and economic imbalances in our society. The wealth of Trinidad and Tobago must reach all levels of the society with enduring and transformative effect. All must be empowered to participate in the opportunities for advancement that continue to flourish in our country.

We are proud of our success. We have ensured the strongest economy ever in our country which has tripled in size over the last eight years. We have already attained full employment for the first time in the history of our nation and reduced poverty levels by half in our country. We continue our emphasis on Education and have improved quality and accessibility from nursery to tertiary with a three hundred percent increase in university enrolment over the last eight years. We are continuing to make housing affordable to thousands of lower and middle-income families. Quality health care is becoming increasingly accessible through development of the infrastructure, outreach programmes, medicines free of charge for common ailments, and the increase of complicated surgery for heart and kidney ailments.

We are developing our talents in culture though the introduction of the performing arts as examinable subjects on the school curriculum. This will be supported by academies for the performing arts now under construction. In Sport we have established the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago with a mandate to develop ten (10) major sports through their National Sporting Organisations. This Company must also initiate suitable programmes for total participation and high performance sport; and construct, manage and maintain sporting facilities in communities throughout the country.

Most importantly, we are improving our communities throughout the country. Community facilities continue to be established as well as programmes for the strengthening of family life; unemployment relief, and assistance to the needy.

Our goal is that no one must be left on the periphery as our country moves forward. And we place special emphasis on our youth. This is the core rationale of YTEPP and all our other training programmes. Indeed young people are at the heart of everything that we do in the government of Trinidad and Tobago. As I have said before, young people have never had it so good in this country.

It is therefore such a great joy to see this graduating class today. It increases my optimism about the future of Trinidad and Tobago. It strengthens my confidence that we will overcome whatever obstacles lie in the path of our development as a nation.

I therefore wish to hold up as worthy exemplars, these graduates of YTEPP and all others who have acquired skills or are now doing so in our various programmes. I encourage other youth, particularly the unemployed and unskilled, to follow in their footsteps. I exhort parents, family, friends and community elders to persuade the unwilling to take advantage of the great many opportunities that the government is providing for their development. I am suggesting to the management of YTEPP that you keep track of your young products in case they need your further assistance as they engage the world of work. And I encourage today’s graduates to go forward, build on this achievement and strive for the realization of your dreams and aspirations.

Congratulations, once again, and best wishes to all. Thank you very much.