Black Immigrant Daily News

President Dr Irfaan Ali ushered in Raksha Bandhan celebrations  after receiving rakhis from sisters from the Brahma Kumaris and from representatives of the Indian High Commission.

Rajnie Narine and Ahalia Geer from the Brahma Kumari; and Sunita Tyagi, Savitri Dutt, Sanyukta Singh and Pammi Kaushik from the Indian High Commission visited President Ali at the Office of the President on Shiv Chanderpaul Drive where they tied the rakhis on his wrist ahead of the day of celebration on Thursday.The representatives from the Indian High Commission were accompanied by the Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, H.E Dr K J Srinivasa.

Raksha Bandhan is observed on the full-moon day of the Hindu month of Sravana during July or August and celebrates the love of a brother for his sister. On this day, sisters tie rakhi bands on the wrists of their brothers to protect them against negative influences. In return, sisters are presented with gifts and a promise that their brothers will protect them from harm. (Office of the President)

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…20 scholarships being offered

In order to assist Guyana to boost its land surveying capacity, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has donated over US$30,000 in surveying equipment to the Government Technical Institute (GTI).

The several pieces of surveying equipment were handed over on Wednesday following the swearing-in ceremony of five new land surveyors at State House. Land surveyors are trained through a programme offered at the GTI.

This donation is part of the Sustainable Land Management and Development Project being implemented by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) in partnership with the FAO and funded by Guyana’s Redd+ Investment Fund.

FAO Country Representative in Guyana, Dr Gillian Smith, said that the organisation is committed to continuously supporting the country’s development agenda, particularly as it relates to land management. In fact, she posited that it is due to the drive of local agencies such as the GL&SC that the FAO has made the donation.

The land surveying equipment donated to GTI by the FAO

“We know that the work that the project is doing is only a very, very small part of the bigger, comprehensive and more ambitious land management agenda and work of the Government. But under the vision of GL&SC and the Government, this project is doing its part to support updated base maps for several administrative regions. Support is being provided in the modernising efforts that are being made for land administration and lease management systems and processes, land surveying and cadastral systems, among other areas,” Dr Smith stated.

Produced experts

The FAO official went on to laud the Guyana Government for prioritising human capacity building.

“Guyana recognises the critical contribution that this makes to sustainable development in general, and particularly how it complements all of the infrastructure investment that is being done here. Specifically, here, human resource capacity is vital, as we have heard, in achieving land management and sustainable land development,” she noted.

In fact, Dr Smith further acknowledged the fact that over the years, GTI has produced experts in land surveying, many of whom are now leaders in the field. To this end, in addition to the surveying equipment, the FAO official also announced that this project is also offering scholarships to 20 new students in the academic year commencing in September.

FAO Country Representative Dr Gillian Smith handing over the land surveying equipment to a GTI official in the presence of Education Minister Priya Manickchand, President Dr Irfaan Ali, and GL&SC Head, Enrique Monize, on Wednesday at State House

These scholarship students will be doing a field attachment with the GL&SC and this will allow them a chance to underpin the theoretical foundations that they will receive with practical experience that is extremely vital.

Another component of this project is work being done to address patterns of land degradation and identifying and prioritising land restoration practices that will then be scaled up. According to the FAO Representative, this can directly support the targets of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) to restore up to 200,000 hectares of land by 2030.

Importance of practical skills

Meanwhile, Education Minister Priya Manickchand expressed gratitude to the FAO for its donation to GTI, as she emphasised the importance of developing practical skills during training programmes such as land surveying.

“We are fully aware that academic and the traditional academia and subjects that we’ve pursued remain important. But we are very aware of how necessary it is to upskill more, many, or even all of the members of our population and you’re going to see a renewed rollout of how we treat with TVET (technical and vocational education and training) even from the primary level in our country,” she posited.

Manickchand noted that the aim is to ensure that every student exiting high school is competent in at least one TVET area.

Further recognising the need for more land surveyors in Guyana and the fact that the GTI is the only institution that offers such qualifications, the Education Minister assured more will be done to support this field.

In fact, Manickchand stated that this is already happening with Government placing intensified attention and matching investment on TVET institutions across the country.

“It’s important that the people we produce at the Ministry, we produce from the institutions of the Ministry understand their role in building out this ‘One Guyana’ where unity and love and harmony is our goal to reach. And there are going to be new responsibilities in this new Guyana that is more aware of the harms of the bad work and who are more aware of the goodness that comes from good work. There’s going to be more responsibilities placed on every public professional coming out,” the Education Minister noted.

She went on to say to the five newly sworn-in land surveyors that “…I urge you, in this time, to resolve that you’re going to go forward doing sworn land surveying work even as you earn the big bucks that could come with it, because big bucks do come from it; that you resolve that you will commit to serving with integrity and honest so that your name must never be a name that people associate with scampishness.” (Guyana Times)

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Un hombre fue ingresado en prisión por supuestamente intentar atropellar a una mujer y su hija en horas de la tarde del miércoles en la carretera PR-125, del barrio Pueblo de Rincón.

Según el reporte de la Policía, el sujeto utilizó su auto y chocó impactó de manera intencional el vehículo Mitsubishi, Outlander Sport, año 2016 y le provocó daños a la carrocería.

En el vehículo se encontraban una mujer de 53 años y su hija como pasajera.

El sujeto fue puesto bajo arresto y un juez le impuso una fianza de 65 mil dólares que no prestó.

Fue ingresado a una Institución Carcelaria del país.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

 Les autorités de transition au Mali ont annoncé mercredi un deuil national de trois jours après avoir confirmé la mort dimanche de 42 soldats maliens lors d’une attaque attribuée à des jihadistes dans le nord-est du pays, près des frontières du Burkina Faso et du Niger, un assaut au cours duquel l’armée a “neutralisé 37 terroristes”.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) has now been formally registered by the Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission (J-TEC) as a teaching university, making it the first private institution to be so registered/recognized in Jamaica, effective July 2022.

Making the announcement, Professor Dennis J. Gayle, President of the UCC said “We are very pleased to have satisfied the J-TEC’s detailed inspection and due diligence processes and to have received this registration status as a result.”

Gayle said the status adds to the recognition of higher education quality already earned by the UCC including registration and institutional accreditation from the national accreditation body – the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ); institutional accreditation from the UK-based quality assurance body – Accreditation Services for International Schools, Colleges and Universities (ASIC) as well as recognition from the University of London and Sunderland University, which are both located in the UK and Florida International University in the US.

“The UCC voluntarily submits to a continuous series of assessments by qualified local and international bodies, while also implementing a robust internal quality assurance and enhancement system, as we work assiduously to ensure our programmes and facilities are of the highest possible standards”, Gayle said.

J-TEC has been mandated by the Cabinet of Jamaica to undertake the registration & regulation of all institutions offering Tertiary Education level qualifications within Jamaica.

Accordingly, J-TEC undertakes inspection and the associated assessment of all aspects of an institutional establishment’s operations and levels of qualifications against established standards.

Registration by J-TEC indicates that an institution has attained the minimum standards to operate and deliver the programmes and awards and facilitate the appropriate qualifications in keeping with the application for registration.

The J- TEC registration covers over 35 degree programmes offered by the UCC including several of current national relevance including undergraduate, graduate and master’s degrees in Hospitality and Tourism Management, Executive Master’s degrees in Business Administration or Public Administration, and Masters of Business Administration ((MBA) in Accounting, Finance or Health Care Management.

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