Education Minister Wants Partnership Between Heart Trust and JFLL

Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites is calling for closer collaboration between the HEART Trust/NTA and the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL) to upgrade the education level of applicants who have been denied enrolment by HEART.

Rev. Thwaites made the call at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston on Thursday, September 11, during a reception to formally introduce Merris Murray as the new Executive Director of the Foundation.

“One urgent matter that Ms. Murray will have to spearhead is the establishment of an agreement between the HEART Trust/NTA and the Jamaican Foundation for Life-long Learning (JFLL) to upgrade the education level of potential applicants who HEART has had to refuse admission,” he said.

“When someone applies for skills training with HEART, they are not to be turned away if they do not have the prerequisites. They are to be registered and a data bank developed, and they are to be introduced to JFLL and they are to be taken in and encouraged to engage in upgrading their competences in order that they may then qualify to be admitted into the HEART programmes and after they make best use of those then the progression to employment is far more likely,” he added.

The Education Minister said this will require the closest cooperation between the agencies “and it will be necessary for both to link their personnel to engage in a sturdy partnership which will allow for the requisite training.”

Rev. Thwaites said, “this rescue operation” will assist in the continued advancement of the education sector and will give young adults another chance to earn an education and a skill.

Many of these (persons) are those who end up running afoul of the law and we do not hesitate to spend upwards of a million dollar a year to incarcerate them, well let us be prepared also to spend what is necessary and to encourage their contributions to what will help them towards a free and fulfilled life,” he said.

The Education Minister noted that the ultimate goal in educating persons is to get them into jobs “and wherever possible the agencies that are combining today will do their parts to link their graduates to income earning opportunities.”

The Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL) began as JAMAL Foundation in 1973.

It operates 29 Adult Education Centres (AEC) with 100 volunteer AECs across Jamaica, and partners with other agencies and programmes to change lives by offering educational opportunities for all persons of all ages.