By Assan Bah
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Bakary Badjie has launched a four-week orientation programme for the 15th batch of the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS) on Tuesday, 10 September 2024.
The batch includes two hundred (200) young male and female corps members from across the country, together with youth from the disabled community, migrant returnees, and young people who have had proper rehabilitation after coming into conflict with the law.
This cohort is set to embark on a two-year training program on skills such as information technology (IT), plumbing, hairdressing, catering, carpentry, auto mechanics, livestock and rice production, electrical installation, tailoring, welding and fabrication, and horticulture, among other skills.
Founded by the Gambia government and other development partners, the NYSS program aims to provide young people with the needed skills and knowledge in the fields mentioned earlier to stand a better chance of creating job opportunities for themselves and others.
Before being sent to their various institutions for proper training, the new corps members will undergo a four-week mandatory residential orientation program on discipline and patriotism.
Speaking at the orientation, Mrs. Aji Sainabou Jallow implored corps members to remain steadfast and complete the program, saying the government has spent lots of resources on it.
The Executive Director of the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS), Abass Bah, said the program aims to increase the capacities of young people to improve their chances of getting employed.
He expressed gratitude to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for supporting them with trainers for the four-month orientation program.
On his part, the Minister of Youth and Sport, Bakary Y. Badjie, said the program will not only empower young people economically, but will also enable them to have the required skills for the development of their country. He said the government will continue to support the NYSS with the hope that young people’s struggles in the country are addressed.
“We have realized the struggle that young people undergo from lack of education to lack of economic opportunities. The NYSS was established to serve several purposes; from the provision of the requisite training and orientation for young people as a means of ensuring a smooth transition for them from School to vocational training, and eventually into the job market,” Bah stated.
He said the Gambia like any other country in sub-Saharan Africa, is mostly dominated by young people which he said renews the need to invest more in them, for them to have a brighter future.
“It is for this reason that the government of the Gambia realised the need to invest more resources in these young leaders so that they can become great citizens who are equipped with the relevant skills, and not just for them to be economically empowered. The country needs young people who are going to be engineers, architects, computer scientists, etc.,’’ he said.
While advising the new corps members to take the program seriously and make the best use of the opportunity, he assured them of the government’s commitment to ensuring that the NYSS and other schemes that empower young people continue to flourish.
