PM Mottley would love to see 15,000 Barbadians not just 1,500 trained in cybersecurity
With many of these scholars reporting difficulties finding employment in their fields locally, Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley during a press conference held today at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) said, “Teaching is one of the most noble of professions but we don’t have enough teaching spaces to accommodate 6,000 science graduates, so unless we create the opportunities for them or unless they go into self-employment, it is not going to happen.”
a person having received that training can start up earning about CAD $60,000 a year and the training is less than a year
Therefore, speaking directly to this urgent need to expand the employability for UWI Cave Hill science graduates beyond the education sector, the Prime Minister said that Rwanda is opening crucial doors for Bajans.
“When I was last Minister of Economic Affairs and Development in 2007, I produced a draft plan then that spoke to the need to rest our industrial development on two things, on pharmaceuticals and ICT. I don’t need to tell you how important this is to give our graduates choices,” she insisted.
The Prime Minister stated that the Government sought to create “global citizens with Barbadian roots”. She revealed that through the Student Revolving Loan Fund, 1,500 Barbadians will be trained and employed in cybersecurity.
“The government has taken a decision through the student revolving loan fund to be able to train 1,500 Barbadians in cybersecurity with the opportunity of jobs being almost assured for them. And why are we doing it? Because at the end of the day, if a person having received that training can start up earning about CAD $60,000 a year and the training is less than a year training - it is months [of] training - then I don’t only want 1,500 trained, I would like 15,000 if we can get that trained,” Mottley said.
There is an interest in hosting young Barbadians, Barbadians who come into Rwanda, who are designing apps
With Barbados set to enter the pharmaceuticals industry following an agreement with the Governments of Rwanda, Ghana and Guyana, the Prime Minister also suggested that future university graduates explore studies in life sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, science and engineering as well as ICT-related areas and robotics.
Government will be partnering with Carnegie Mellon University, a private university based in the United States and Rwanda. Barbadian students will participate in training for artificial intelligence and robotics. The University also offers Master of Science programmes in coding, robotics and artificial intelligence.
The new Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, fresh back from his first overseas trip under this portfolio since the Cabinet shuffle, added that the number of science graduates leaving UWI needs to translate into “concrete economic development activity”.
He divulged that young Barbadians with a background or interest in software development will also have the opportunity to partake in a two-year programme hosted by Invest Barbados, Export Barbados and the Rwanda Development Cooperation.
“There is an interest in hosting young Barbadians, Barbadians who come into Rwanda, who are designing apps, who are into software development and to put them into an entrepreneurial program in Rwanda.”It is anticipated that it will probably last about two years but it will be an intense course where you are not just learning the technical skill sets in terms of improving your software development but you are also learning principles of business, entrepreneurial issues, financial literacy, management of business, marketing etc.”
“In that two-year period you have an intense course, you have certain set of targets that you have to meet in terms of performance and then you are back out on your own but equipped in a way that you would have never have been,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs explained.
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