Empowering the people with a ‘second chance’

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of he Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL), Worrel Hibbert, said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be signed between the Ministry of National Security and the JFLL will be entered into with the view of equipping adult learners with knowledge, skills and the attitude that will make them “empowered to achieve their fullest potential”.

He said the JFLL was eager to enter the partnership with the ministry and the Department of Correctional Services to offer a “second chance” to youngsters in juvenile detention facilities, individuals who take part in community intervention programmes, and inmates housed in correctional facilities across the island.

“We want to pay more attention to the literacy programmes that are available in our prisons and correctional centres,” Hibbert said.

Director of educational services at the JFLL, Rhoda Crawford, said the agency was very excited about the partnership, adding that the synergy would significantly advance justice-reform programmes.

“I am encouraged by the minister’s desire to get things started and the support and commitment from the ministry to assist us in implementing this life-changing opportunity for the inmates and juveniles,” she said.

Crawford noted that the MOU will allow the agency to engage more than 4,000 persons from various groups by offering “adult basic (mastery in literacy and numeracy) and adult secondary education (high school equivalency) to those individuals who want a second chance”.

This access, she said, will give them learning opportunities to pursue personal, academic and professional goals.