Be self-reliant

London was delivering the feature address at the YTEPP Tobago graduation at the Mason Hall Secondary school on Saturday afternoon. Two hundred and fifty Tobagonians received Certificates of Participation in various vocational skills training.

The graduates also included a class of 18 students from the Pentecostal Light and Life Foundation High School who were the first to participate in YTEPP’s school-based project on the island.

London said that YTEPP’s success will be judged by its impact on the quality of the lives of the graduates beyond certification, and suggested that efforts should be made to track their progress after the programme.

He however reminded the graduates that they too had a part to play in their own success.

“Life and YTEPP has given you another chance. Regardless of what situation you were in before, regardless of whether you were successful or a total failure, life has given you another chance and therefore you have a responsibility to take advantage of that. Even if you are not as successful in this phase as you would like to be, life will give you other chances at success,” London said.

London noted that citizens of this country were living in one of the most challenging but opportunity-filled eras ever experienced and, regardless of intellectual capacity, each had the opportunity to excel.

He urged the graduates to be self-reliant to capitalise on these opportunities before they are taken by “outsiders”.

“In the final analysis, it all depends on you. If you do not utilise it somebody else will, because the reality is that Trinidad and Tobago is exposed to the world and you are competing with people from Germany, Jamaica and Korea. Your only advantage is that you are here and will see and experience the opportunities first, but you have to ensure that you are sufficiently self-reliant to deal with them. Be prepared and continue preparing, this is not the end, it is not the beginning. Anytime your sense of achievement tells you that you can relax, you will have in fact done yourselves a serious injustice because you cannot survive in the present world if you stop preparing.” London said.

The graduates were also challenged to make consistent and meaningful contributions, to make a difference wherever they may have passed.

Valedictorian, Wesley Burris, in his speech described YTEPP as an “indispensable programme for today’s youths that is still going strong after 18 years”.

Burris made a call for a full-time YTEPP centre on the island to cater to the needs of young Tobagonians seeking an alternative education.