Youths given second chance

By SAMUEL BARIASI
ONE hundred youths from Madang left for the Philippines over the weekend to undergo various technical trainings.
The six months training will be at the Hinch Technology School of Business in Batangas in Manila, Philippines.
The 100 are the second batch of youths sent to study under the ‘second chance’ programme initiated by the Madang provincial executive council.
Madang deputy provincial administrator Paul Amera said the youths were school dropouts from the six districts of Madang.
“Under the leadership of Madang Governor Peter Yama, we have come up with this initiative to at least try to give our young people a second chance in life,” he said.
He said Madang was known for its law and order problems that were caused by the youths and the programme was aimed to addressing that.
“When we provide our youths with opportunities like this, we make them feel like they are part of us and encourage them to do meaningful things for the community.”
He said the youths would be receiving training on various trades such as carpentry, plumbing, scaffolding, electrical and other technical trades.
“We saw that most of the law and order problems are caused by youths who dropped out of school and could not find anything better to do that’s why we want to provide them with opportunities that they can help themselves with,” he said.
Amera said the first batch of 97 youths sent early last year were now working with various companies in Madang and Milne Bay.
“Some of them are doing their on-the-job training in the Philippines,” he said.
He said sending 100 youths study in the Philippines cost about K5 million (about K30,000 per youth).
“Once we settle this batch, we will work on the third batch and continue the programme.”