Students in the National Training Board?s chef apprenticeship programme are up in arms after claiming Government has been dragging its feet on financial assistance for them since Hurricane Fabian put them out of a job.

However, according to the NTB, a fund was never specifically set aside for them, and while financial assistance has been delayed, the apprentices will receive the help they have been looking for.

The NTB chef apprenticeship programme pays for students to attend classes at the Bermuda College, and then places them in a position for on-the-job training.

The five apprentices were told funds had been set aside to help subsidise them during the off-season, when the hotels slowed down, said student Gina Simons.

That was a misunderstanding, however, according to National Training Board chairman Nalton Brangman.

?There can be no fund because the NTB doesn?t hold funds,? he said. The NTB?s role is to fund programme development, however a fund was never set aside to cover apprentices if they were out of a job.

?In essence, what we said was that after Fabian hit we would seek to gain financial assistance for them,? he said.

?I think this is where one or two may have misunderstood.?

When Fabian struck, the apprentices were out of a job for September and October, said Ms Simons. However, they did not receive any money to help them through that time.

?Some of us were living off credit cards, there are people with kids.?

Ms Simons is the mother of one, while a fellow apprentice is a full-time father of two.

Ms Simons said the apprentices called then-Labour Minister Terry Lister in November.

Mr. Lister passed her over to Mr. Brangman. ?I?ve been calling him every day, twice a day.?

Before Christmas the apprentices were told their cheques were on the way, she said.

Then they were told the paperwork regarding the amount they were to be paid was misplaced.

?Now it?s January, and some of us are unemployed again,? said Ms Simons.

In fact, it is the two apprentices with children who do not have jobs. ?I work at Aqua now, and they?re closed for January,? said Ms Simons.

?We have bills to pay from then, and now we?re not working again,? she said. ?I feel we?ve been more than patient.?

?We have had some problems,? said Mr. Brangman. ?The individual agencies have not stepped up to the wicket until recently. There is one stepping forward now to deal with it, it should be soon.?

?They should?ve just told us when we signed up for the course to sign up for welfare at the same time,? said Ms Simons. ?It looked like the opportunity of a lifetime ? it?s turned into a nightmare.?

?All my dreams are coming to a halt right now,? said her co-apprentice, the father-of-two, who did not wish to be named.

He gave up a lucrative job in construction to go into the programme last year, only to find himself out of a job since Fabian with two children under the age of two to care for.

?My children are in nursery school and I was finding it hard to pay the nursery school bills. Now Financial Assistance is giving me something for that ? but I feel I should not be out there looking for work. I?ve been looking, and I?ve got nothing yet.

?Here it is January and I?ve got nothing.?