DEAR EDITOR, Jay Bartlett, Board Chairman of the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) made a statement at the official launch of the Young Entrepreneurs Council Solomon Islands (YECSI) at the Mendana Hotel in Honiara on Friday October 12, 2018, which I fully endorse.
He was quoted as having said, “To take full advantage of Solomon Islands’ youthful population we need to make decisions on education, training, policy and programs particularly by building job-relevant skills that support entrepreneurship and innovation.”
Mr Bartlett went on to add, “It is important that we fully understand the population situation we face and the implication it poses for socio-economic growth and development,”
“As a country we currently face a serious skills deficit needed to support economic growth and we need to reconfigure the training supply system that is demand responsive.”
Importantly, in my view, Mr Bartlett said, “Our youth demand our efforts, time and investment and the time to act is now.” Source: Solomon Star news.
In my desire to aid the growth, education and arts training of the youth, with a special interest in seeing the early creation of a National Youth Orchestra, I would appeal to the SICC as well as YECSI and the two Ministries of Women, Youth and Children Affairs and Tourism to help me get a NYO off the ground and to see it prosper and grow in the months and years to come and so prove beneficial to the needs, talents and aspirations of the young people that need “our efforts, time and investment”.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
