50 Public Sector Employees in St. Mary to Graduate Nov. 30

Fifty public sector employees in St. Mary, who successfully completed training under the Public Sector Employee Training Programme, will be graduating on November 30.
In an interview with JIS News, Michelle Diaz, Director of Planning and Research, Scholarships Unit, at the Cabinet Office, said that the ceremony would take place at the Brimmar Vale High School in Port Maria, with Senator Floyd Morris, State Minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security being the guest speaker.
The Public Sector Employee Training Programme, she explained, formed part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Government and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), representing public sector workers.
“The idea was to give persons additional skills that they can use to earn extra income. Some of these persons have never done anything outside of on-the-job training, so this is an opportunity for them to go and acquire new skills that they can use in some way to benefit themselves and their family,” Miss Diaz said.
According to the Director, the participants were trained in areas such as cake baking, garment construction, drapery making, food and beverage, basic and advanced computing, landscaping, tiling and childcare.
Implemented by the Cabinet Office, the training programme is done in collaboration with a number of educational institutions across the island, including high schools, community colleges, teachers’ colleges, HEART academies and community based training institutions.
Since the inception of the programme, a total of 3,000 public sector employees have successfully completed training courses.