Ministry aims to better equip students

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information Floyd Green said the Government is committed to ensuring that students leaving secondary school are fully prepared to enter the workforce.

He noted that through the Career Advancement Programme (CAP) and other initiatives, students are being equipped with academic and technical qualifications.

"Thirty per cent of the jobs you now consider important, they won't be around in another 10 years, so we have to train you so that you can get the jobs that will be around," he said.

"The employers of that world want to know that students can analyse, that students can think creatively, that you can be retrained," he noted further.

Green was addressing the inaugural Grade Nine Social Enhancement Workshop of the Lewisville High School in St Elizabeth on Wednesday.

BIGGER CAP BUDGET

He noted that CAP has been strengthened to provide additional educational and vocational training opportunities for secondary students ages 16 to 18.

"In this budget, we have put more money into CAP so that when our students leave grade 11, the ones without qualifications, we can provide for them by putting them into a continuing education programme," he pointed out.

"For those who have difficulties with some of the basic subjects, we are going to help them. Those who we know are good at skills, we are going to find a way to get them some skills training and skills qualification," he explained.