Now that school is closed for summer, the government has earmarked some $1 million to ensure that the country’s youth are involved in positive activities over the next two-and-a-half months.

Thousands of kids will have a wide variety of activities to choose from this summer, all a part of the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture’s 2012 National Summer Youth Programme, which is designed to provide positive alternatives to youth.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr. Daniel Johnson said during a press conference on Friday, that the programmes respond to the needs of the children in various communities, particularly for children who are out of school for the summer.

Besides the various summer camps, another component of the summer programme is the short term employment opportunities for high school and college students.

According to statistics, 34 per cent of young people between the ages of 18-25 are unemployed in the country.

Dr. Johnson says embedded in the summer youth programme is training and exposure for young people in the work place.

“It allows many young people, several hundred of them to get a chance to work in the private sector and we hope that their performance in the private sector is good enough that they are invited to stay on,” Dr. Johnson said.

“We know that the economy is going to begin to grow again at the end of the year, we want them to have this experience and we’re hoping that they get to stay on. So this is also for people who have not yet gotten into the work place. We have kids who have left high school three, four, five years ago and have never had a job.”

The divisions of Youth, Sports and Culture will each offer a diversity of camps.

The Youth Division will host 13 general camps for youth between the ages of 5-15, offering activities including crafts, fun science, personal money management and field trips.

There will also be seven speciality camps for participants between the ages of 10-15 in art, agri-science, beauty and barbering, hospitality and rake ‘n’ scrape.

The Sports Division will provide a rich diversity of physical activities such as baseball, swimming, cycling, track & field and volleyball, just to name a few.
For the first time, the Cultural Affairs Division will have a fully integrated culture camp, including activities in dance, drama, Junkanoo and handicraft.

The summer youth camps will also take place on all major Family Islands.

Registration forms for the enrolment of campers are available at the Ministry of Youth Headquarters or online at www.bahamas.gov.bs.

The summer programmes begins on July 2.