UG Professor underscores importance of technical graduates

By Leon Suseran
One hundred and seventy- two students graduated in various technical and business fields from the New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) on Wednesday at the institution’s 39TH Convocation & Prize- Giving Ceremony. This event comes at a time also when the intititute is celebrating 40 years of catering to the technical and vocational education needs of the young and old in the Berbice area.

Delivering the keynote address, Director of the University of Guyana Berbice Campus (UGBC), Professor Daizal R. Samad dispelled the notions that graduates out of the technical institute are inferior to “those who work behind desks, pens in hand computer keyboards at our fingertips, in air- conditioned offices”. He urged the graduates not to be insecure about their own worth. Prof Samad then went on to underscore the great importance technical graduates play in our society today. “And yet, if I am to build my house, I need to call upon your expertise. If I do not, then the roof that I put above me will surely fall upon my head. When I turn on a tap, I want water to flow; when I turn on a switch, I want the lights to work; when my driver turns the let to my vehicle, I want the thing to work. My life is easier because you are here; all our lives are better because you have been trained at NATI in areas that make you competent”, he posited.

He urged the graduates, that after they would have left the institution and started to practice their new- found technical skills, to have pride in their work. “There are two kinds of pride. The first kind is self- pride which is egotistical, arrogant, folios—the kind of pride which was the reason Satan was driven from heave. That is negative pride”, he reminded them.
The young men and women were pleaded with to beware of persons prone to gossip, loudness, aggressiveness and unkindness. “You will find those who have accomplished little or nothing tend to exaggerate the little they have done. I see it in all manner of people…in teachers, lecturers, businesspeople, students, and my family and so on…”
Dr Samad expressed the desire for a closer working collaboration between UGBC and NATI. He said that there should be mounted, programs in Engineering in Berbice and the graduates of NATI should be given exemptions for excellence in individual courses he recommend entry requirements be “made more flexible to accommodate those who you who may not meet entry- level demands”.
The Programme was chaired by Chairperson of the Berbice Regional Education Committee, Mr David Armogan and Mr Chinedu Onwuzirike delivered the Principal’s address. Rev Dr Paul Moonu delivered the Charge to the Graduands, while the Valedictorian was Ms Andrea Pollard who graduated with a Diploma in Computer Science. Among the Best Graduating students who received special prizes were Samuel Stewart, Agriculture Mechanic; Trendy Foide, Brick Laying and Concreting; Shaneza August, Certificate in Secretarial Science; Rosamund Samuels, Certificate in Commerce; Damion Leacock, Carpentry and Joinery; Kendall Sampson, Diploma in Commerce; Termain Subryan, Electrical Installation, and eight others.