Lotto Scammers to be Targeted under Youth Intervention Programme

Students involved in lotto scamming will be targeted under the special intervention programme for at-risk youth developed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

The initiative, to be implemented by the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) in partnership with the HEART Trust/NTA, is aimed at providing education and training for disengaged students in vulnerable communities.

Speaking during a recent tour of the Ministry’s Region 4 Offices in Montego Bay, St. James, portfolio Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, said the region is of particular interest due to the high level of youth involvement in scamming and other crimes.

“We want to intervene to see if we can get into those communities and get the youth into a programme that can guide them on a socially acceptable pathway,” he pointed out.

The initiative, dubbed Career Advancement Programme (CAP) Youth Employment Solution, is geared towards youth ages 16 to 24.

The pilot, to run from October 2016 to July 2017, will cater to 500 students in five parishes that are affected by crime.  In addition to St. James, the other parishes are Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Clarendon and Westmoreland.

It will focus on literacy and numeracy skills, occupational training, discipline, paramilitary, employability and life-coping skills.

Minister Reid said the initiative is important in creating a more peaceful society in order to attract the levels of investments needed for economic growth.

“The message needs to go out to communities that the (absence of) peace impacts us negatively and if we are to  restore peace and harmony and work productively, the country would be more prosperous and we would all live in the paradise that we all want,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Minister Reid said he is satisfied with the standard of work of education officers in Region 4, which includes the parishes of Westmoreland, Hanover and St. James.

“The region is doing very well. Certainly, we have very good leadership in the region; very visionary and I am very excited about that. We have been identifying some of the gaps and I have asked (Regional Director, Dr. Michelle Pinnock) to give me a list of the issues and to see how we can sit down and work strategically to address the concerns,” he said.

Minister Reid was accompanied on the tour by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Maurice Smith.

While in St. James, Minister Reid also made stops at the Youth Empowerment Centre, St. James High School, as well as the John Rollins Success and Barrett Town Primary schools.