Jones: Stay purposeful

The more productive the young citizens of Barbados are, the more likely this island is to continue to move along on the developmental pathway.

 

This was the opinion that was expressed by Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones, after he toured the computer lab where students were involved in developing “50 websites for NGO’s can develop apps”.

 

“I don’t want to use clichéd phrases but Barbados is still a relatively young society and its young people are necessary for the continued evolution of the society. The better our young people are, the more productive they are; the better for Barbados because it is a fact – the future belongs to the young.”

 

He therefore urged them to stay focussed on their studies and future career development. “You stay focussed, you stay committed and you let your work speak volumes for itself. Your work has got to be the messenger, not only your mouth, because sometimes trash can come from mouths.”

 

The young persons in this initiative are taking this advice to heart. One of the students participating in the programme, Dwailan Forde, 17, a student of the “Associate Degree in Computer Science” at the Barbados Community College (BCC), said that he is working on two websites; one is the “Supporting our Society” charity and the other is the “Barbados Badminton Association” website.

 

He said that the charity website took him approximately two weeks to complete and he is currently working on the badminton one.

 

Forde said that he is enjoying it so far and while there were some challenges at the start of the initiative, their focus is on team work and as a result, they have gotten through these obstacles together. As for future plans, he said that he would like to get into game and app development.

 

Classmate, Debronni Ifill, said that he is enjoying it so far because it is different to what he usually does.

 

Ifill is currently building a website for the “Pure Sex” Centre, which he said aims to educate young people on how they can avoid the temptations of getting involved in sexual relationships at an early age and “before they are ready.”

 

He stated that he still has some work to do on the website which he started earlier this week and has to be completed by the end of this week.

 

As for future plans, he said, that he would like to become a programmer and while he has not yet narrowed down which industry he would like to work for, it will be in the area associated with code.

 

Delano Frederick, 19, of the same BCC Associate Degree, said that he is thoroughly enjoying this initiative that is teaching him to build websites, which is an area of interest for him, as he also loves anything to do with 

technology in general. The website he is currently working on is for the “Experience Calypso” tent. He was previously communicating with different NGOs in order to get information and he started the website around two weeks ago.

 

As for future plans, he would like to continue to pursue studies at the BCC and his career goal is to become a systems analyst.