Unattached youths to get technological training next week
APPROXIMATELY 1,000 unattached youths are set to begin training on Monday under the Technology Advancement Programme (TAP).
The programme, which will equip the participants with skills in data collection and analysis, involves par tnership between the Universal Service Fund (USF) under the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology and the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU).
Associate vice-president for the Faculty of Advanced Skills and Professional Development at CMU, Dr Cornell Brown, said that the training will provide the youths with an opportunity “to gain a marketable skill”.
Brown said that, “At the end of the training, par ticipants will receive a recognised CMU competency certificate, which will indicate that they have expertise in data collection.”
Trainees will be employed by the USF for at least one year.
Some of them will be placed in various ministries, depar tments and agencies to undertake technology-related tasks, while others will be sent into the field to collect information on Internet penetration across the island.
The TAP participants will cover nine modules over a 12-week period.
The first module, focused on employability skills, will begin at the Brimmer Vale High School in St Mary for residents of the parish, St Ann and Portland.
On March 6, training will be held in Montego Bay for persons from Trelawny, St James and Hanover.
The programme continues in Manchester on March 7 for residents of Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth.
More than 200 participants in St Catherine will be trained on March 8, and the first module will conclude in Kingston on March 9.
The other training sessions, covering modules two to nine, will be held in the individual parishes.
Brown said that at the end of the training, a graduation ceremony will be held at a venue in Kingston.