Culinary Educators Receive Scholarships

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information has awarded scholarships valued at $20 million to 450 culinary educators from secondary and tertiary institutions across the island.

This forms part of the Ministry, HEART Trust/NTA and Joint Committee for Tertiary Education (JCTE) ‘Upskilling and Retooling Jamaica’ project, which was launched last year by the Education Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, to expand access to skills training.

To date, some 7,000 persons have benefitted from the project. Chairman of JCTE, Dr. Cecil Cornwall, has expressed optimism about this initiative to award the scholarships.

“The hospitality industry is dynamic and as such, it is critically important that educators and practitioners in the field be constantly ‘upskilled’ to stay apace with global demand and trends,” he said.

Dr. Cornwall pointed out that the ‘Train the trainer’ exercise was born out of that understanding and is poised to assist in building a wider cadre of highly skilled, globally aware and certified professionals in the hotel and tourism industries.

Presently, 50 of the scholarship recipients have been placed at Hocking College, USA, since June 2017 for higher level skills training and will return to the island later this month.

An additional 50 will depart for Liaison College in Ontario, Canada on August 6.

They will be exposed to training in areas such as: Advanced Meat and Vegetable Cuts; Fabrication; Classical Stock and Sausage Making; Meal Preparation and Presentation to International Standards; Vegetable and Food Carving; Wine Tasting; Vineyard Tours; Food and Wine Pairing; Gastronomy Delight and Advanced International Cuisine; Classical Cuisine and Desserts; and Molecular Cuisine, among other areas.

Local training sessions are also being conducted by visiting Professors from Hocking College, USA, with 350 educators at HEART Trust/NTA institutions and will end on July 28, 2017.

Areas include advanced level skills in Tour Guiding; Heavy Duty Vehicle Maintenance; International Professional Baking and Pastry; Wellness Promotion; Auto Mechanics; Allied Health and Multi-Media Production. According to Dr. Cornwall, these areas of training are based on emerging higher level skills.

He emphasized that certification is critical to the push for national growth and development, citing the drive by Senator Reid for at least 80 per cent of Jamaicans to attain advanced level certification, such as a college degree, by age 30. Students in both local and International programmes will receive Certificates of Participation.