Heart NSTA/Trust Aligning Training with Industry Needs

Managing Director of the HEART/NSTA Trust, Dr. Taneisha Ingleton, says the agency is committed to aligning training to meet industry needs.

She informed that resources are being focused on equipping persons with skills in emerging fields where demand is strongest.

“One in every three HEART enrollees, more than 16,000 individuals, is being trained in information communication technologies, logistics, construction, manufacturing and agriculture,” she pointed out.

“These are the areas where the talent is needed to fuel Jamaica’s industries,” she said, while addressing the WorldSkills Jamaica National Skills Competition opening ceremony at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on October 1.

“These are the very industries on display here today, and we’re not out of mandate, we are not out of alignment”, she added.

“What we are doing here today is specific and direct to where Jamaica needs to be, what industry has been telling us that it needs, and the talent that we need to work on to place in those various areas,” she noted further.

Dr. Ingleton also highlighted HEART/NSTA Trust’s credentials-certification efforts, noting that formal recognition accelerates access to opportunity.

“Since April 1, 2025, the HEART/NSTA Trust has awarded 14,000 certifications, and what does this do? It opens doors to jobs, to careers and to entrepreneurship,” she pointed out.

Impact on employment remains a cornerstone of the Trust’s mission. More than 3,600 young people have already been placed in jobs, with more than 3,000 of those placements facilitated by the HOPE Programme, the Youth Summer Work Programme, and other initiatives.

In addition, nearly 12,000 adults have had their skills formally recognised through the Prior Learning Assessment, enabling many to translate like and work experience into new opportunities.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ingleton said that the agency is advanced in meeting its targets for 2025, with 63,000 persons enrolled in training programmes up to August.

“We’re not sitting at HEART idle; we are in October and we have already completed six out of 10 of the targets we intend to reach,” she said.