HEART/NSTA Trust to increase services to youths-at-risk

The HEART/NSTA Trust will seek to increase enrolment in its programmes to 128,255 trainees, with 53,969 obtaining certification in the 2023/24 financial year.

Training will be delivered across its network of 26 wholly operated institutions, partnerships with more than 80 community training interventions, enterprise and work-based training interventions, and adult education sites.

This is outlined in the Jamaica Public Bodies Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year ending March 2024.

The document notes that one of HEART Trust’s priority areas will be increasing services to youths-at-risk and that strategies will be implemented to strengthen the delivery modalities and number of access points/institutions.

“HEART will also seek to engage these youth by collaborating with other social service agencies to create a holistic network of support,” the document notes.

Renewed emphasis will also be placed on expanding access to new and emerging skills through the development and delivery of labour market demand-driven training, certification, and job-placement opportunities.

In addition, the programmes and services offered by the Trust will be aligned to employers’ current and emerging needs.

“The Trust will continue to work with JAMPRO and other partners, under the Inter-American Development Bank-funded Global Digital Services (GDS) project, to develop a skilled workforce in the GDS Sector,” the document states.

The agency will also continue to take steps to improve the throughput/certification rate, including implementation of a mobile assessment service to increase the efficiency of the assessment and certification process.

This, the document notes, will involve the issue of e-certificates and digital badges to programme participants that have successfully completed their programme of study and the implementation of a mobile application (‘HEART on the Go’ app) that allows trainees to track their progress/certification status.

Meanwhile, HEART/NSTA Trust will continue to contribute funding for programmes administered by the Ministry of Education and Youth.

This allocation of $400 million will support the senior schools’ programme, known as the Career Advancement Programme, technical vocational education and training (TVET) integration in schools, as well as other science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiatives.