HEART/NTA to Offer Railroad Track Maintenance Certificate Course

The HEART Trust /NTA will be introducing a railroad track maintenance programme in April.

The certificate course is being offered in collaboration with City and Guilds.

Managing Director of the HEART Trust /NTA, Dr. Janet Dyer, told JIS News that the programme came about as a result of research into emerging skill sets, which will require certification.

“We visited the Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/Alpart Bauxite Company (in St. Elizabeth) and realised that a component of the work had to do with the railroad. We started doing some research and realised that we did not have any form of certification for railroad track maintenance, so we went and found training and certification through City and Guilds, which is a partner with HEART Trust/NTA,” she noted.

Dr. Dyer said the agency signed a partnership deal with City and Guilds this month.

“They will be sending a trainer to the HEART Trust to train and certify our instructors as assessors, so we will be able to not only train, but to assess and give persons Level 1 certification, which is (equivalent to) the British National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) that is aligned to the NVQ in Jamaica,” she informed.

She told JIS News that the training will include a period of apprenticeship at JISCO/Alpart.

“We will do the initial training and our partnership with Essex Valley Community and Associates (EVC) will allow us to put these persons on the apprenticeship track at JISCO/Alpart. We are looking to have these persons in apprenticeship for six to 12 months, after which they will be certified as railroad track maintenance technicians,” she noted.

The EVC is the business unit or income-generating arm of JISCO/Alpart’s community council.

The HEART Trust/NTA and the EVC recently joined forces to launch an Employment Certification Programme.