A1 Training Institute operator defends school in wake of criticisms

OPERATOR OF A1 Training Institute, Julie Morris, is defending the integrity of the private entity, and charging that the critics are making mischief as it relates to her school.

Responding to a recent publication in The Sunday Gleaner, Morris said claims that the institution is not registered are unfounded, and pointed to documents which showed that she has applied to the HEART Trust/NTA for full registration although the process is not complete.

With the school being registered with the Ministry of Education in 2017, although its courses are not certified by the ministry, Morris argued that allegations from a former teacher and past students are not true.

“There is a teacher I hired in September to teach housekeeping and food preparation. When she in the housekeeping class, it seemed as if she couldn’t manage. I called her and told her I (was) going to dismiss her because she could not manage the class.

“The following morning I don’t see the students come in but I was told by another teacher at the school that she said ‘if me fire har, me a go see wha happen’, so this is what happened,” charged Morris.

‘NO EVIL INTENTION’

But the teacher, whose name is being withheld, told The Sunday Gleaner that she was employed to the training institute to teach food preparation.

According to the teacher, she started becoming suspicious after the principal wanted her to teach mathematics and biology among other subjects, which she was not trained to teach.

“I told her that I was not qualified to teach those, she said, ‘If you were any teacher at all, you could have taken the syllabus and teach it’,” said the teacher, who declared that she has no evil intention against Morris or the school.

Responding to claims by Jermaine Beckford that after paying to get trained as a security guard the certificate he received from A1 Training Institute in 2013 was worthless, Morris said he can now contact her for another certificate which he can use to get his security licence from the Private Security Regulation Authority Regulations (PSRA).

“I left a forwarding number when I left my Montgomery Road address to say anybody could reach me at Waltham Park Avenue, and I let them know that we were in the process of registering and they can come back and get their correct certificate.

“I did not hear from Jermaine, he did not contact me and he knew exactly where we were,” said Morris.

Beckford insists he did not get any forwarding information when he went to search for Morris back in 2013, and he is not interested in doing any further business with the institution.

Morris added, “When I approached them (PSRA), they said I needed a certified trainer to train and sign on the certificate. I identified one who is Sophia Sparkes (Levy) and they confirmed that she’s a certified trainer.

“All the students who come through the school in security get that certificate and can head back down there to get their PSRA licence.”

The PSRA has since confirmed that Sparkes Levy is a registered security trainer on its list.

But Sparkes-Levy said Beckford would have to come in and do over the required 80 hours as she could not hand him certificate without testing him.