“I will not give up on young people.”
Those were the words of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit while addressing hundreds of Dominica Labour Party (DLP) supporters at the party’s 70th Anniversary rally held in Dublanc on Sunday.
According to him, many young men and women leave high school or college and cannot immediately find a job, but his administration is working to ameliorate the issue by attracting investment to the country.
“We commend the private sector for creating opportunities for thousands in this country. We thank them, [and] we have done more for small and medium-sized business development in Dominica than any previous administration in our country, but the reality is many of our young men and women leave school, high school, or college and cannot immediately find a job,” Skerrit said. “We cannot leave them to their elements. We have a duty to nurture and guide them.”
He continued, “We are constantly seeking to interest and attract investments in this country. We have done a lot to make Dominica attractive for investors. We have a skilled workforce that will be attractive to investors and be politically well-placed to interests and attract investment partners.”
Furthermore, the Prime Minister pointed out that his party is well aware of its duty to the young people of Dominica, “to give them hope, opportunities to learn and equip themselves for the life ahead”.
“The Dominican Labour Party government will resist the calls…will resist all calls to slam the door in the faces of the NEP [National Employment Program] workers,” he stressed. “We will not stop subsidizing businesses that provide training and mentorship in work ethics to our young people.”
Moreover, Skerrit pointed out that his government is purposefully equipping young people for emerging industries, with initiatives like the youth entrepreneurship hubs under the Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT).
“I will not give up on young people. I will never give up on young people in Dominica,” he emphasized.
Skerrit mentioned further that his government is working to expand Dominica’s economy.
“We are working to expand this economy. We are working to create new and lasting job opportunities and to this end, we are equipping our youth for emerging industries to ensure that they have the tools to take advantage of opportunities,” he emphasized.
Meanwhile, he said over the past quarter century the Government of Dominica has increased access to quality education, improved school infrastructure, and introduced scholarship programs to nurture the talents of the youth.
“But you will agree with me, ladies and gentlemen, when I said to you that there must be education reform in Dominica,” Skerrit stressed. “We must give our children a better chance for taking advantage of the opportunities out there.”
He made it clear that sports, arts, music, civics, and agriculture will be part of the school program.
“I want every child in Dominica to have access to their skills,” Skerrit stated. “But we have to agree that the system that we have is not helping children to grow together. It is not teaching them to collaborate, to cooperate and the world needs more collaboration and cooperation now than ever before.”
The Prime Minister calls for a system where, according to him, not only 80% succeeds, but every person succeeds.
“Every child, because the Lord has given every child a talent. We want every system to be able to diagnose a child and say, that’s your talent. You go ahead, you’ll be the best carpenter, you’ll be the best messenger, you’ll be the best lawyer…,” he encouraged. “So come September, we’re starting with early childhood education.”
He said children going to school with big bags they are unable to carry will be a thing of the past.
“We’re going to make children be children and let them learn in a conducive environment that gives them a better chance of surviving this difficult world,” he explained.
” We have a skilled workforce that will be attractive to investors AND BE POLITICALLY WELL-PLACED TO INTERESTS AND ATTRACT INVESTMENT PARTNERS. ” You sure lost me there
That is why Labour will continue to win elections in Dominica,the UWP think they can fool Dominicans by talking about diaspora votes.Only idiots would say and believe that,here are some election results.
UWP
1995. 12,777 votes
2000. 15,555 votes
2005. 16,529 votes
2009. 12,684 votes
2014. 17,479 votes
2019. 16,424 votes
Notice UWP lost more than 4,000 votes in 2009.In 2014 UWP regained what they had lost but lost over 1,000 votes in 2019.
DLP
1995. 11,064 votes
2000. 15,362 votes
2005. 19,741 votes
2009. 22,173 votes
2014. 23,208 votes
2019. 23,643 votes
The DLP has never lost support,UWP said between 8,000 and 13,000 diasporans were paid to vote Labour in 2019 hundreds of plane loads of diasporans voted.Look at the difference in DLP between 2014 and 2019.That is what Labourite do,they READ and RESEARCH unlike…
@CLOWN
No wonder you are called a clown. First of all, UWP cannot say anything. UWP is a political organisation, your shameless fool.
Stop talking garbage to people like me and thousands of others who reside here. We see and feel what goes on at election time.
Buffoon.. Buy a book and pencil and go to school.
Sac Sot!
Shameless!
@A Clown
Yes Clown. As a labourite you read and research well. Your darn MORON! fool.
Whatever you are high on is certainly not going down well with you.
Never knew in 2025 Dominica would have such a brainless character.
Gimme a freaking break!!
Labour cannot win without the disspora votes and you dam well know that!!!!
What a shame the party can find money for young people to sewo, but cannot find money as a government to give them jobs
Roosevelt and his tunnel vision based on enriching himself, his high maintenance wife and his American birthed children, have adversely affected the lives of the masses, more particularly, the youth population in Dominica.
Here are the objective facts to support the aforementioned statement:
•The present Education System is unfit for this technology-driven world
•Many young males resort to the drug trade to eke out a living
•A sizeable fraction of the young female population resort to inshore some activities to support themselves
•There are no genuine efforts to involve the youth in nation building
I could continue ad nauseam but I will let those reasons suffice for now.
Correction: ‘young female population resort to UNWHOLESOME activities to support themselves’
And yet Dominica young people have never been more destroyed and hopeless than under your 20 plus years of low employment, a failing economy and no future prospects for the young in Dominica! Right now it is not for you to give up or not give up on the young people of Dominica but it is time that they give up on you Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit. They have no future under you. Too many young men lining the streets, high on drugs or paro in Roseau. You have failed an entire generation of Dominicans. Under your watch Dominicans run to neighbouring is lands in the thousands!
I feel that the Prime Minister is very dedicated and extremely interested in young people. Dominica still has a lot of room to grow.
He must be stopped. His attempt at educational reform is dangerous to the next generation. Imagine Dominica has a population of no more than 70,000 persons which has remained static for over twenty years. If we start undereducating our children, what will their future look like?
We have no ability to absorb the uneducated into the work force. Lord help us, Skerritt has how become the supreme leader of Dominica and is now drunken with the excesses of his power. Dominica, take note!!!
LOL you mean you have a plan to put them in your NEP program,,,
What about those now that just graduating High school school just close so what you have for them to do???
those there is more in need of a living wage right now as they come into adulthood and have to figure out their path,,,
Leave those children with their BigBags it will give them decipline!!!
But then again you doe want them to have that, all you want is for them to come to your office for handouts!!!
Garçan when God come for you doe look for people to ask for mercy for you yeh!!!
Greetings to the YOUNG PEOPLE of Dominica just here on this medium to let you all know that on Sunday June 1st LORD Nelson was at it again. But it is just not his fault, he just can’t help himself. I have come to realize that it is in his nature to tell lies. So all of a sudden the Dominica Lethal Party come to the realization that they should not give up on the Youths of Dominica after 25 loooooooooooooooong yrs.
Promises were made to Dominicans and more so to the people of PORTSMOUTH when ROSS was handed over to Barbados on a silver plater. Has any of those promises come through? Has anything been put in place to help the 800 or so Young individuals who lose their jobs at Clear Harbor? PROMISES. But a PROMISE is a COMFORT to a FOOL. Is not even GARBAGE this RED Party can take care of in the country much less for more pressing issues that your future depend on. One phrase that summarizes this inapt Red party is “DREAM KILLERS”.
Skerrit wants young Dominicans to be equipped to work in the tourism service industry. Thats all. He isn’t interested in young people expressing themselves through the arts or aspiring to more than cleaning toilets and making beds.
Stupes!!!!!!!!!!
Give them Jobs, not rum and sewo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The youth in Dominica are definitely not OK when the only way for most of them to get and keep a job is to put on a certain colored t-shirt and openly support a certain political party. Take my constituency as an illustration. A silent emergency is unfolding where the young men in particular are facing a deepening crisis of unemployment, mental health issues, and loss of direction. There is no sustainable development whatsoever. And what does the clueless Parl Rep do? Just keeps providing more rum and “seewo” and some fry chicken on special occasions. With compliments! Go figure!
…”We want every system to be able to diagnose a child and say, that’s your talent. You go ahead, you’ll be the best carpenter, you’ll be the best messenger, you’ll be the best lawyer…,” he encouraged. “So come September, we’re starting with early childhood education.”
Excuse me, but a talent is not a diagnosable condition. Diseases are diagnosed. Talents on the other hand are identified and evaluated. Some are innate abilities while others are learned from practice and sheer hard work. After 25 years in office, this seems to be too little, too late.