Revamped Apprenticeship Programme to Be Launched Next Year

Jamaicans seeking on-the-job training in several skill areas can look forward to the revamped HEART/NSTA Trust’s apprenticeship programme, slated to be launched next year.

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with Oversight for Digital Transformation and Skills, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, made the revelation today (August 16), while speaking on Love101FM’s ‘Good Morning Minister’, with Information Minister, Hon. Robert Morgan.

Dr. Morris Dixon said that the entire HEART apprenticeship programme will be redone.

“In every other part of the world where skills training has done well, apprenticeship is a key element of it, and one of the things that we’re working on is an Institute of Apprenticeship where we can revamp and redo the entire apprenticeship programme in Jamaica,” the Minister said.

She said the launch of the programme will take place “at some point in the first half of next year”.

Dr. Morris Dixon also noted that a previous study on the HEART/NSTA Trust by the Education Transformation Commission had made a recommendation of apprenticeship.

“The apprenticeship programme is a central element… . It is going to be central to us moving forward because not everybody is going to want to go do the classroom thing; you can learn on the job,” she outlined.

As part of its ongoing transformation, a number of other changes for the HEART/NSTA Trust have been announced in recent times, including the removal of fees for courses up to level four.

This was announced by Prime Minister, the Most. Hon. Andrew Holness, during his 2023/24 Budget Presentation in March.

Then last week, the $2-billion Learning and Investment for Transformation (LIFT) programme was launched to bolster the social mobility of 2,500 young Jamaicans.

The initiative will target fifth- and sixth-form graduates and provide sustainable avenues for education, employment and assimilation into society.