ILO lends technical support for the review/evaluation of Guyana National Apprenticeship Programme

Dr. Hassan Ndahi, ILO Senior Specialist, Skills and Employability, presented the findings of his review of Guyana’s National Apprenticeship Programme  on Friday 1 July, to the Hon. Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton.



The objective of the review / evaluation was to determine the effectiveness, efficiency, and relevance of the Programme, matched against current labour market skills needs and employment realities, and the building blocks of quality apprenticeship programme (stakeholder participation through dialogue, stakeholder responsibilities, funding, and legislative framework). Information was collected through document review, interviews and discussions with Government officials, employers/workers and their organizations’ representatives, apprentices, officials of the Board of Industrial Training, and educational institutions.



Dr. Ndahi stated that stakeholders presented good suggestions and are ready and willing to see the review become a reality when the programme is officially redesigned. He stressed that “There has to be a transition. When they are in school, you can transition into an apprenticeship and strengthen your skills and then move across the ladder of education.”

He noted that since the oil and gas sector is thriving, an appropriate apprenticeship programme would be beneficial.



Minister Hamilton said that university graduates in Guyana often find it difficult to find jobs without experience in the world of work, and that decisions must be made to rectify this by putting graduates into an apprenticeship programme in their final year.

Future design changes of the Programme

To improve the quality of skills development, facilitate youth transition to decent employment, reduce youth unemployment, and increase workers productivity, Guyana will benefit immensely having a pre-apprenticeship and a redesigned apprenticeship programme.

To this end, the following recommendations were made:

• The short-term skills training programmes designed and delivered by the BIT should be redesigned to a Pre-apprenticeship Programme with at least six months skills training in a specific occupational area.
• Engage the stakeholders in policy discussions and decisions in the redesigning the training to a Quality Apprenticeship Programme.
• The redesigning process should be supported by a national discussion on the role of quality apprenticeships as a vehicle to tackle the high youth unemployment, increasing worker productivity, and improving the quality of skills development in educational institutions.

Other recommendations include, levels of certification, stakeholder dialogue on sustainable funding, duration of apprenticeship training, and programme articulation between the apprenticeship training and educational institutions.



The National Apprenticeship Programme was established in 1910 under the Industrial Training Act, Laws of Guyana, to provide for the promotion of “industrial training” coordinated by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT). For more than a century, the Apprenticeship Programme has played a pivotal role in the development and provision of skilled workers for industries in Guyana. The Act was amended in 1956, 1972, 1992, and 2012, with most of the changes focusing on the interpretation and clarification to ensure relevance in the changing times. This time-proven skills training model has demonstrated its effectiveness in generating a highly skilled workforce and has also transition one hundred percent (100%) of the apprentices into employment after their traineeship.