Officials from the ministries of Education and Social Cohesion, along with officers from the Guyana Defence Force, pose with students and teachers at the launch of the National Cadet Corps Programme yesterday. Seated in the photo are: Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson (second, from left); Chief-of-Staff of the GDF Brigadier Patrick West (fourth, from left); Minister of Social Cohesion Dr George Norton (fourth, from right); and Minister of Education (third from right). (Photo by Keno George)
The National Cadet Corps Programme (NCCP), established with the aim of building character and developing life skills among the nation’s youth, was officially relaunched yesterday.
Jan.20,2018.
The programme, which targets high school-aged children, is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Social Cohesion, through the Department of Culture, Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
According to Major Eon Murray, Training Officer of the Guyana People’s Militia, which is the executing body of the programme, the Cadet Corps is intended to create well-rounded individuals, through learning that will complement the formal school curriculum, in the form of both academic and adventure training.
Murray gave remarks during the launch, which was held at the Hope Secondary School yesterday morning.
“We foresee you, taken as you are with your raw talent, energy and intellect being transformed into morally sound, well-trained, disciplined, skilled and responsible men and women…This Cadet Corps is an additional programme that will enable you to achieve much more than I did. After being molded through this programme, I look forward to seeing the leaders that you will become. You will uphold the concepts of duty and service. And you will hold high levels of responsibility. This is the secure future, as the motto says, I envisage,” Dr Nichole Nedd-Jerrick, the event’s guest speaker, told the students present. Nedd-Jerrick is the senior medical registrar at the Enmore Polyclinic.
The Cadet Corps pilot programme will run for one year and is being executed across six schools—the Stewartville Secondary School in Region Three; North Ruimveldt Multilateral School and Hope Secondary School in Region Four; Berbice High School, in Region Six; St Ignatius Secondary School in Region Nine; and the Mackenzie High School in Region Ten.
The programme will be rolled out to other schools as it progresses.
Minister of Education Nicolette Henry, during her address at the event, extended congratulations to all stakeholders on the launch of the Cadet Corps, which she stated will “assist in preparing our young people for future service” and “provide basic military training that should inculcate the feeling of camaraderie, courage, service and above all, patriotism.”
“No matter what field our cadets will choose to provide service, it is important to have capacity and character…Pro-grammes such as this cadet corps, I have no doubt will assist our young people to better understand their roles as the nation builders of Guyana and I look forward to fruitful and beneficial partnership between the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Defence Force,” she said.
The programme, according to Chief-of-Staff of the GDF Brigadier Patrick West, is being administered by the Guyana People’s Militia, which was reestablished in 2015, and has representation across several regions, which include regions Three, Four, Five, Six, Nine and Ten, from where cadets were present yesterday.
So far, 487 students have already been registered for the NCCP and students began training this week, cadets indicated yesterday.