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Prime Minister Launches HEART Trust/NTA Mobile Welding Lab & Career Coach in St. Thomas

By: , November 26, 2015

The Key Point:

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says the HEART Trust/NTA’s Mobile Welding Laboratory and Career Coach is a bold and visionary initiative that will bring hope and new training opportunities to young persons, especially those in rural communities across Jamaica.

The Facts

  • She was speaking at the launch of the Lab and Career Coach on Wednesday, November 25 at the St. Thomas Technical High School at Duckenfield in St. Thomas.
  • Prime Minister Simpson Miller noted that the initiative will be very helpful in supporting the Government’s drive to significantly increase the number of Jamaicans in gainful employment.

The Full Story

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says the HEART Trust/NTA’s Mobile Welding Laboratory and Career Coach is a bold and visionary initiative that will bring hope and new training opportunities to young persons, especially those in rural communities across Jamaica. “This is the type of creative approach to providing public service that every Government Agency and Department must embark on,” she said. She was speaking at the launch of the Lab and Career Coach on Wednesday, November 25 at the St. Thomas Technical High School at Duckenfield in St. Thomas.

Prime Minister Simpson Miller noted that the initiative will be very helpful in supporting the Government’s drive to significantly increase the number of Jamaicans in gainful employment. “The main focus of my Government is securing economic growth and investments so that more and better paying jobs can be provided for our people. We are also focused on investing in skills training provided by entities such as HEART, so that our young people can create businesses and jobs for themselves and for others”, the Prime Minister said.

Mrs. Simpson Miller highlighted that the rate of unemployment as at July had fallen to 13 percent but acknowledged that the rate of youth unemployment was higher. She committed working to driving down the youth unemployment rate and said she looked forward to the day in the medium term when the levels of unemployment and youth unemployment will be in the low single digits.

“This is why what we are doing today is so important in the goal to increase employment. This action by the Heart Trust NTA I believe goes to the heart of the matter of youth unemployment in a very positive way. This initiative gives practical meaning to the Government’s legislative and policy framework for youth unemployment, which is outlined in the new National Youth Policy presented in Parliament earlier this year,” the Prime Minister pointed out.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister congratulated the Board and management of the Heart Trust for the initiative, noting that it was important to go the extra mile to bring training and personal development opportunities to young people in communities across Jamaica, especially deep rural Jamaica. The move by the HEART Trust, the Agency’s management said, was prompted by an instruction from the Prime Minister to make the training agency’s services more accessible to persons in rural Jamaica.

The HEART SPARKS Welding Lab will train workers for Industrial Electronics, while the Career Coach, will target untrained and uncertified workers within the Hospitality & Tourism sector.  The mobile Career Coach will deliver the full range of HEART services. This will include recruitment, applications, career services, job placement, and placement in on-the-job training.

Last Updated: November 26, 2015

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