Back and Next - Back and Next137 graduate from YMCA
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The National Council of The Gambia YMCAs, last Friday, held a graduation ceremony for 137 students at the Gambia College, Brikama campus.
The graduation came after the graduands had been exposed to a rigorous skills and enterprise development training in such areas as tailoring, catering, dress making, welding and carpentry. The training was facilitated and funded by the Britain Lottery Fund (BLF).
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the governor of Western Region, Lamin Sanneh, who was the guest speaker at the occasion, described education as a lifelong process. He called on the graduating students to make good use of the knowledge and skills acquired “so as to contribute to the socio-economic development of The Gambia, under the dynamic leadership of his Excellency, Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh”. He added that this is the only way “we can achieve our development objectives.”
Governor Sanneh advised the graduating students to be steadfast and disciplined as they have now graduated to the wider world. “You are graduating to the wider world, full of challenges and opportunities. The skills you have gained are meant to improve your livelihood and to contribute to the development of the country,” he said. He made reference to the issue of illegal migration by Gambian youths to countries like Spain via the Canary Islands, calling on the graduating students to play their part in putting an end to this menace.
Joseph Peacock, the programme coordinator at the YMCAs, said that the graduating students were part of the 605 people being trained in various skilled and enterprise development from Banjul to Wuli. He revealed that the YMCA is a youth organisation that is committed to helping young people who have not been privileged to finish their schooling, the poor, and the disabled.
The objective of their project, he added, is to engage these young people to undergo vocational training so that they will be able to run their own projects after graduation. He finally called on the graduands to put into practice the skills learned so as to contribute to the development of The Gambia.
The graduation ceremony was punctuated by the presentation of certificates to the graduands, dancing and a demonstration by the hair dressing class. The vote of thanks was delivered by Fatoumatta Jallow.
The graduation came after the graduands had been exposed to a rigorous skills and enterprise development training in such areas as tailoring, catering, dress making, welding and carpentry. The training was facilitated and funded by the Britain Lottery Fund (BLF).
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the governor of Western Region, Lamin Sanneh, who was the guest speaker at the occasion, described education as a lifelong process. He called on the graduating students to make good use of the knowledge and skills acquired “so as to contribute to the socio-economic development of The Gambia, under the dynamic leadership of his Excellency, Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh”. He added that this is the only way “we can achieve our development objectives.”
Governor Sanneh advised the graduating students to be steadfast and disciplined as they have now graduated to the wider world. “You are graduating to the wider world, full of challenges and opportunities. The skills you have gained are meant to improve your livelihood and to contribute to the development of the country,” he said. He made reference to the issue of illegal migration by Gambian youths to countries like Spain via the Canary Islands, calling on the graduating students to play their part in putting an end to this menace.
Joseph Peacock, the programme coordinator at the YMCAs, said that the graduating students were part of the 605 people being trained in various skilled and enterprise development from Banjul to Wuli. He revealed that the YMCA is a youth organisation that is committed to helping young people who have not been privileged to finish their schooling, the poor, and the disabled.
The objective of their project, he added, is to engage these young people to undergo vocational training so that they will be able to run their own projects after graduation. He finally called on the graduands to put into practice the skills learned so as to contribute to the development of The Gambia.
The graduation ceremony was punctuated by the presentation of certificates to the graduands, dancing and a demonstration by the hair dressing class. The vote of thanks was delivered by Fatoumatta Jallow.
Author: by Amadou Sonko-Bah
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