4,900 Youth To Benefit From NYS Summer Programme

A total of 4,900 young people will benefit from valuable work experience during the months of July and August, under the National Youth Service (NYS) Summer Programme.

The youngsters, ages 17 to 24 years, will be placed in various entities for a period of three weeks, where they will gain some of the necessary skills for the world of work.

Orientation sessions are currently underway island-wide, to prepare the participants for placement.

Some of the topics being discussed are: volunteerism, career planning, the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees, customer service, financial literacy, lifestyle management, and professionalism and communication at the workplace. Resource persons are drawn from private and public sector entities.

Community Service Director, NYS, Omar Newell, told JIS News that the sessions are important as many of the participants will be in a work environment for the first time.

“We think it is important to…tell the participants some of the things to expect, to ensure that they know that they will have someone who is instructing you about what to do throughout the day and for them to know that there is a certain expectation in terms of deportment and in terms of how you communicate at the workplace,” he said.

Mr. Newell told JIS News that the NYS is still looking to identify additional placement opportunities, especially for persons with disabilities.

“We have had challenges finding appropriate placement sites for them, so we would love to hear from some employers, who have been embracing persons with disabilities as part of their culture, so we could provide more opportunities to our youth from the community of persons with disabilities,” he stated.