“Part
of what we will be embarking on come this September is a really robust career
training programme in our secondary schools, as a number of our students are
still unaware of some of the new areas that they can go into. A lot of them
still have misconceptions about the areas that can bring them significant
wealth”.
State Minister for
Education, Youth and Information, Floyd Green speaking about TVET (technical
and vocational education and training) in secondary schools
Looks
like more Secondary schools, including the more traditional Schools, will be
going Technical.
For
the Academic Year coming in September 2018, will be adopting TVET (technical
and vocational education and training) as reported in the “Education
Ministry to Increase Promotion of TVET in Secondary Schools”,
published July 19, 2018 By Rochelle Williams, The Jamaica Information Service.
The
State Minister, who was delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony
for World Youth Skills Day 2018 on Tuesday July 17th 2018 at the Garmex HEART
Academy in Kingston. called for a “mindset change” among Jamaicans.
The
event featured plenary sessions on careers in the following areas:
1. Allied
health services
2. Automotive
industry
3. Booth
displays in information and communications technology (ICT)
4. Digital
animation
5. Engineering
6. Marketing
self for future jobs
7. Social
media and cybercrime
Discussions
are under way with the following actors to get this latest government
initiative on it way:
1. NPSC
(National Parenting Support Commission)
2. PTA
(National Parent-Teacher Association)
This
means more of the TVET courses may be coming to a Traditional High School,
specifically courses in the following five (5) areas:
1. Agriculture
2. Business
Education
3. Home
Economics
4. Industrial
Education
5. Visual
Arts
Students
with technical and vocational education and training, long seen as slow
learners are now been seen as hands-on or Kinesthetic learners whose skills are
in high demand. So why is this the case?
TVET and HEART
Trust/NTA - Emergent Occupations for Vision 2030
He
made these statements against the backdrop of the World Youth Skills Day 2018
held on July 17 at the HEART Trust/NTA’s Garmex Academy in Kingston.
Held
under the theme ‘New Skills for Emerging Jobs: Improving the Image of Technical
and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)’, it hope to encourage young
people, aged 15 to 25, to choose the path of acquiring and developing their
special skills and make a career out of it, builds their long terms earning
potential.
Already
the HEART Trust/NTA is focusing on training young people for employment in
areas of the economy that are currently experiencing high levels for
employment:
1. BPO
(Business process outsourcing)
2. Tourism
and hospitality
3. Business
Logistics
4. Animation
5. Construction
6. Agriculture
Apparently,
the Government is set to make a windfall from new and emerging careers in TVET
as new career paths are on the horizon for skilled workers as noted in the
article “Gov’t
Increasing Focus on Skills Training”, published July 18,
2018 By Rochelle Williams, The
Jamaica Information Service.
This
as there are 21st Century skills and training opportunities in these areas that
will be needed to enable Vision 2030 such as:
1. Hydroponics
2. Mechatronics
3. Mobile
robotics
4. 3D
printing
5. Mobile
application development
6. Videography
7. Make-up
artistry (for film)
8. Renewable
energy (photovoltaic installation)
The
plan is to have the School guidance counselors provide advice to 5th form
students and parents on TVET careers. This would include telling about their
options for training, which would include the HEART Trust/NTA, as more than 67%
of our workforce is untrained and uncertified.
According to studies conducted by the HEART
Trust’s LMRI (Labour Market Research and Intelligence) Department, these areas
will result in new and emerging occupational areas such as:
1. 3D
Visualisers
2. Big
Data Engineers
3. Renewable
Energy Specialists
4. Accident
Reconstruction Specialists
5. Robotics
Engineers
6. Mechatronic
Engineers
7. Smart
House Infrastructure Designers
8. Drone
Pilots
So
why did we not know this before? It all has to do without the perception of
skilled workers.
The Perception of
Skilled Labour in Jamaica - Increase foreign exchange as well as Nation
builders
This
is due to the misconception of Technical and Vocational people as being slow
learners.
Yet
interestingly, they have the greatest potential to earn the most money due to
the need for skilled workers internationally, as they are needed for the
Jamaican economy to experience growth as noted in the article “We
need more skilled workers — BOJ”, published Wednesday,
November 29, 2017 by Karena Bennett, The Jamaica Observer.
To
quote the State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Floyd Green: “We
have a bad perception of going into skills. We want to ensure that we are going
into our schools with our guidance counsellors to have career training sessions
where we say to our young people, these are the new areas. We have to partner
with the PTAs to counsel the parents, because often they are the ones that
discourage our young people (from pursuing alternative career paths). We have
to explain to them that these are areas of growth”.
In
fact, most Jamaicans who migrate to the USA seeking work are skilled technical
workers as noted in my blog
article entitled “How
Jamaicans can apply for H-2A and H-2B VISA to work in the US of A”.
Ditto
too persons who migrate to Canada, especially part of Canada, due to the
low-level of skilled labour in those areas as noted in my MICO Wars
blog article entitled “How
Database 876 helps Jamaicans find US$51000 yearly jobs in Saskatchewan, Canada”.
The
same can be said for the UK and the Middle East, where skilled workers are
needed to help in the building of infrastructure as those economies transition
from a Oil Exporting Economy to one based on Tourism, the Service Sector and
Renewables as noted in my MICO
Wars
blog article entitled “How
Jamaicans can find work in UK and Dubai”.
This
translates to increase foreign exchange inflows to the island via remittances.
More importantly, Jamaica needs skilled workers to help us build our own
infrastructure as well, poising the nation for growth.
But
for young people to take advantage of these opportunities, they need to be
properly trained as pointed out by Managing Director of the HEART Trust/NTA,
Janet Dyer, quite: “Today’s World Youth Skills Day is one of the many
activities that we are using to ensure that our young people in Jamaica get all
the opportunities that are available to get trained, certified and to
contribute to the productivity of this nation”.
So
not only are skilled workers going to be necessary for Jamaica to achieve
growth, but the potential for employment is getting better and better as their
field is expanding. Jamaicans needs to move now to have more TVET programs in
more Traditional High School as well as strengthen Technical and Vocational
Schools and improve the view people have of these skills area.
Kinesthetic
skills take time to learn, usually via observation, practice and repetition,
but will help the individual to earn for life.
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