‘Weekend Welding’ launched for 60 Freeburg Secondary students

Sixty Grade 10 students at Freeburg Secondary School have begun a landmark six-month “Weekend Welders” programme designed to deliver internationally recognised engineering qualifications and fill critical gaps in Guyana’s expanding industrial sector.

Running under the theme “Building the foundation for the future”, the initiative was conceptualised by the Deputy Chief Education Officer for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Dr Ritesh Tularam. It aims to introduce young people to the fundamentals of welding and occupational safety, establishing a base for future technical education, apprenticeships, employment or entrepreneurship.

The course runs for 208 hours over 26 weeks at the Guyana Industrial Training Centre (GITC) workshop, located on Woolford Avenue, with the Ministry of Education providing transportation for all participating students. The programmes were specifically designed to condense a one-year programme. Combining weekday sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with weekend training on Saturdays and Sundays, the schedule is designed to simulate a commercial workshop environment, with each session dividing four hours of daily contact time between theoretical safety briefings and continuous hands-on booth instruction.