Koforidua, July 14, GNA - Sixty unemployed youth, who underwent a three-month Skills Training and Employment Placement (STEP) programme, on Friday graduated from the Koforidua Victory Vocational Technical Institute.

They were trained in batik and tye-and-dye production, food processing, soap making, screen-printing and garment production. The programme was being organised throughout the country to equip the youth with employable and income-generating skills. Nana Adjei Boateng, New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), asked the grandaunts to produce good quality goods that could compete on the market.

He said the government had released 50 million cedis to support the youth who have had vocational training to help them to establish businesses in the area.

Nana Boateng said the Assembly had allotted part of the Poverty Alleviation Fund and the Emergency Social Relief Fund as loans for the grandaunts.

He said HIV/AIDS was spreading at an alarming rate in the Eastern Region and reminded the public that there was no known cure to the disease.

The MCE asked married couples to be faithful to their partners and the youth to abstain from pre-marital sex to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS. Nana Boateng also advised parents not to shirk their responsibilities thereby pushing their girls into prostitution that could make them acquire the disease.

The Director of Victory Vocational Technical Institute, Evangelist (Mrs) Margaret Amankrah, appealed to the government to assist poor but brilliant students to enable them complete their training.