Director of the National Employment Programme (NEP), Emaline Burnette- Honore has reassured the public that although the programme will be restructured, it is here to stay.

She said, “We still have a number of interns within the private and public sector on our community component and within the schools as well. NEP unlike what you may be hearing is by no means discontinuing. I do not see NEP being discontinued any time in the future”.

In addressing the recent dismissals of a number of NEP workers, Honore said, “There comes a time when you have to look at things, there comes a time when you have to revisit different components, different aspects and this is what the NEP has been doing”.

She said further, “We intend to restructure and the purpose being that the NEP is an internship program. The internship was supposed, from the get go, to last for a period of six months after which it was our intention to attempt to secure permanent employment for the persons who would have been on the internship and this is still our mandate and so this is what we are trying to do now more than ever to ensure that the interns graduate out of the internship program into a more sustainable permanent form of employment.

Mrs. Honore said that the impact of the NEP has contributed significantly to Dominica’s socioeconomic development and that the impact of the program is far reaching, evidenced in the improvement in the general aesthetics around the island.