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Over 300 participants from the A Ganar program will graduate next Friday, November 18, in a ceremony to be held at Hilton Barbados, Needham’s Point, St. Michael, at 5:00 p.m.
Students from nine secondary schools and two vocational institutions will be among the graduands. The schools are: St. George; Princess Margaret; St. Leonard’s Boys’; Frederick Smith; Graydon Sealy; Parkinson Memorial; Daryll Jordan; Ellerslie and Grantley Adams Memorial. The others institutions are the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic and the Barbados Vocational Training Board.
They will receive their employability certificate from A Ganar, as well as a technical certificate from the various partners who would have assisted the programme.
These include Caribbean Cuisine, Specialist Nannies, Horse Charity and Digital Film Media of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth. There will also be individual awards for ‘Most Improved Participant/Youth’ from each implementing organisation.
This year will also see, for the first time, students who completed a core skill module with TVET receiving a TVET certification, and a group from A Ganar’s first Summer School also graduating.
Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones, and the Education Lead Specialist with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Dr. Sabine Reible-Aubourg, are expected to address the ceremony. Barbados’ Country Coordinator for A Ganar, Ytannia Wiggins, will also make a presentation.
A Ganar is one of the initiatives under the island’s Skills for The Future Program, being implemented in conjunction with the IDB. Deemed innovative, A Ganar, which is the Spanish for “to win” or “to earn”, is a sports employability programme wrapped in a soccer ball.
It uses the basic principles of football and other team sports to help youth develop life skills and prepare them for success in the workplace, based on the demands of the labour market.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb