100,000 youth to receive ICT training through OAS initiative

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Daryl Vaz announced the launch of the Organization of American States-led (OAS) Youth Academy on Transformative Technologies for the Americas, which will provide information and communications technology (ICT) training to 10,000 youth across the Americas by 2024 and 100,000 youth by 2026.

Speaking at the virtual two-day Sixth Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Science and Technology on December 7, Vaz, who was elected chair of the ministerial meeting, said the “OAS Youth Academy reflects a commitment to adequately preparing our youth, not only for jobs of the future, but also for the jobs that are currently available in the market and for which there is a shortage of trained professionals”.

The academy will train, certify and expand job opportunities for youth in areas such as augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, robotics and blockchain.

Women and girls in rural, indigenous and underserved communities will be the main priority.

SIX NEW STEM ACADEMIES

In reiterating Jamaica’s commitment to ICT training for youth, Prime Minister Andrew Holness noted that “science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics (STEM) disciplines and coding are at the heart of the global technological revolution. In that regard, Jamaica will establish six new STEM academies and an academy for the creative and performing arts”.

The Youth Academy’s first programme on augmented reality, which will be offered in partnership with Meta (formerly Facebook), will be launched today and offered as of January 2022.

The Youth Academy falls within the ambit of the Declaration of Jamaica which was adopted by OAS member countries as the framework to advance action-driven co-operation on science, technology and innovation in the Americas for the period 2022-2024.

Jamaica was the host country of the ministerial meeting, which was held under the theme ‘Harnessing the power of transformative science and technologies to drive our communities forward’. The meeting came to an end on December 8 and was attended by 31 member states of the OAS.