Self-Sufficient Agricultural Economic project to be taken to NOC

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, January 18, 2018

Following the successful implementation of the Self-Sufficient Agricultural Economic Services Project, at the Hugo Chavez Centre for Rehabilitation and Reintegration, the Ministry of Social Protection will be establishing a similar programme at the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) located at Onderneeming on the Essequibo Coast.

Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally.

This was revealed by Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally, during a visit to the project at the Hugo Chavez Centre at Onverwagt, on Wednesday.

Minister Ally explained that “based on the success I am witnessing at the Hugo Chavez Centre, we are going to establish a similar project at the NOC. Because, we want when the young people leave the institution, they must have skills and they must be able to do something for themselves.”

The Minister pointed out that her office is currently undertaking a number of infrastructural works at the facility, to ensure that the youths are housed in a comfortable environment in keeping with minimum required standards. She said that once those works are completed, the ministry will forge ahead with the self-sufficient project.

In July 2017, the operation of the NOC was transferred from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Social Protection, on the grounds that the institution’s purpose is to prepare and train juveniles for reintegration into society.

The NOC caters to youths between the ages of 12 to 17 and most of those enlisted have been sentenced for the offence of wandering. It has a specific mandate to rehabilitate and train adolescent offenders and wanderers so that they could be re-integrated in the society.

The maximum period of rehabilitation is three years, or depending on individual circumstances it could be reduced to a minimum of one year.

By: Synieka Thorne

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