Edward Seaga In every poll, questions on the most troubling problems facing the country invariably cite the need for more jobs. This has been so over the decades.
The education system has borne the brunt of condemnation for the surplus of unemployed persons. So too has the economy which, it is said, is not creating enough of the type of jobs to fit the unskilled nature of the unemployed.
Both claims are true, but at the root of the problem is an education system in which 75 per cent of the secondary level school leavers have no passes with which to gain a skill and, hence, no skill to go forward and into the world of work. This extensive surplus of unskilled persons cannot be provided for by any developing economy because the demand of development is for skills.
Various institutions and schemes have been trying to enrol unskilled trainees and transform them into skilled workers. But for any of many reasons the efforts have not sufficiently produced the quantity of skilled workers nor the quality of workers with skills.
The modes of training have varied from small vocational training workshops producing 10-20 graduates to comprehensive and secondary schools which offer training in some popular skills - carpentry, auto mechanics, welding, cosmetology and so on.
insufficient quality
Launching HEART: Edward Seaga officially launched the Human Employment and Resource Training (HEART) programme in 1982 before a packed National Arena including over 6,000 trainees registered in the programme. - file
Launching HEART: Edward Seaga officially launched the Human Employment and Resource Training (HEART) programme in 1982 before a packed National Arena including over 6,000 trainees registered in the programme. - file
One may believe that the number of students graduating with such vocational training would satisfy the needs of the market, but still the complaint of insufficiency of quantity and quality exists. Perhaps, and this is worthy of investigation, there is not sufficient intensity of training in the secondary system where students must split their time between vocational and academic programmes, leaving insufficient time for skill training.
Whatever the reason, the skill training programmes in secondary schools and small vocational workshops have proven inadequate. But this scenario is not without a bright side.
In the 1970s, while in Opposition, I started to formulate a comprehensive training programme which would pick up the shortfalls I had detected in the on-going systems of apprenticeship, workshop and school training. The common denominator was insufficiency of training time and inadequacy of tutors. The answer was to establish a comprehensive programme of full-time training of skills. Further, the focus should be one skill per student so that there would be an intensity of learning of a skill rather than an adulteration of a little bit of this and little bit of that.
This was a programme for training boys and girls who after leaving secondary or post-primary (all-age schools) wanted a skill, but could not pursue tertiary education because of lack of academic ability. The programme would then be a "second-chance" to pick-up those who did not make it on the first time round.
heart was born
I called the programme HEART, an acronym for Human Employment and Resource Training. It was established as a trust, and so the HEART Trust was born.
I took this proposal to Parliament in the early 1970s where it was set out in my reply to the budget presentation in 1975. Not surprisingly, it was ignored by the Government side. After the JLP won the general election of 1980, I quickly developed the idea further. The main problem would be to find sufficient funds to make HEART a full national programme and not just an extension of the other under-funded vocational efforts.
The JLP became the Government of Jamaica in October 1980, against a background of high unemployment (28 per cent) and high demand for skills due to the heavy migration of 25 per cent of the equivalent of all skills in the last four years of the 1970s. There would be a willingness in the private sector, I believed, to make a payroll contribution of three per cent to fund this project. To make this arrangement more acceptable, I proposed that firms which trained young people in their establishments in whatever the organisation was engaged in would be able to deduct from the three per cent contribution, the pay of the trainee, which would be fixed by law at a trainee level, providing that they had an approved training programme to offer. This made it possible for a firm to elect to train rather than pay the tax. It was a win-win arrangement for HEART since training would be done either way.
The HEART programme was launched in November 1982 before full attendance at the National Arena. It would start with two academies, beauty culture and commerce, and the employer training programme. Later, other academies were added for training in building skills, agriculture, hospitality and information technology.
The first enrolment was 59 students. Some reluctance existed because the programme was thought to be for secondary school "drop-outs" and all-age school students. This was later dispelled when HEART imposed entry requirements which required a specific number of exam passes. To help those who fell below this matriculation line, another academy offered further academic training to allow a second chance to improve academic skills.
chance at getting jobs
The programme continued on this basis over the years with the number of trainees growing significantly as the programme gained confidence among school leavers as a bona fide way to have a good chance to get a job. In the boom years of 1987-1990, enrolment of trainees increased significantly in response to the expansion of the tourism sector by 3000 rooms and the building sector, correspondingly.
Neither the HEART Academy at Runaway Bay for hospitality training, nor the Building Skills HEART Academy at Portmore could accommodate the flood of applications. Hotels and building contractors were attempting to recruit trainees before graduation.
This year is the 25th anniversary of HEART. I was asked to be a guest speaker at commemorative dinner, which specifically honoured the participating employers of what is now called the Enterprise-Based Training Programme.
A surge in trainees began in 2002 as the economy began to pick up with the commencement of hotel expansion and other construction programmes. The increase between 2002 and 2006 was as follows:
Hospitality and tourism 1,351 to 19,145
Information technology 5,142 to 12,201
Construction 3,961 to 10,329
Commercial 1,680 to 3,198
Educational training 1,387 to 6,803
number of trainees ballooned
These total over 50,000 trainees. But this year the total number of enrolled trainees has ballooned incredibly to over 100,000! This makes HEART one of the largest training institutions in this hemisphere.
How was this accomplished? Where was the vast increase in classrooms and staff? The secret to this achievement was that the HEART programme used space available in enterprises, including hotels, to train on the spot. This vastly expanded the accommodation for training programmes all of which run from six months to one year.
There is an important factor to be recognised in all of this. The cost per trainee averages roughly $100,000. The great majority of trainers go into jobs. Hence, the cost per job for HEART trainees who gain employment is far less than the cost per job in tourism, construction, manufacturing or other sectors with substantial employment except, perhaps, agriculture.
Not only is HEART meeting the needs of the economy now, but the supply of trainees has enhanced prospects for jobs abroad. Recruitment for hotels in America is a prime source of jobs, and so is information technology.
steps to meet demand
The European Union recently announced that there would be a serious shortage of skilled personnel in Europe in the years to come, due to an expanding economy and stagnant population growth rate. This has led to steps being taken to meet the expansion of demand by a proposal to issue 'Blue Cards', which is equivalent to the American 'Green Card', opening the door for substantial new employment opportunities in Europe for skilled persons. HEART is, therefore, on the right track in expanding it training programmes to meet local and other needs.
HEART is one of my proudest achievements in public life, thanks to the successful work of Joyce Robinson, the first director; Robert Gregory, who succeeded her; and Don Foster, the new man in charge.
So, happy 25th birthday anniversary to you HEART with all my heart, and thank you for making a future for so many forgotten youths.
Edward Seaga is a former Prime Minister. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at the UWI. Email:odf@uwimona.com.
