Training centre for Glendevon
Published:Thursday | July 22, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Noel Thompson, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Some $35 million has been committed for the establishment of a community and training centre in Glendevon, St James, as part of a social-intervention programme for the crime-ridden area.
The facility, which is to be named The Centre of Excellence, will have a yearly operational cost of approximately $15 million, according to Water and Housing Minister and Member of Parliament Dr Horace Chang.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the project is being undertaken under the Citizen Security and Justice Programme, in partnership with the HEART Trust/NTA, which will conduct a number of training programmes.
"It is an old market that has never been used and is now being converted into a training centre. It is going to be quite a comprehensive facility when it is complete because there is a section that was originally slated to be used for administrative purposes, which will be converted into offices and a day care to provide for young girls who have children but need to be trained," said Golding during his three-day visit to St James at the weekend.
The centre will accommodate up to 200 individuals, and subjects that will be initially offered include property management, landscaping, building maintenance, information technology, small appliances repairing, waitering and bartending.
"These will be geared mainly at young men, but we will also have a course in childcare, as there is still a large number of young mothers and school dropouts," Chang said. "The childcare unit will be used as part of the training, as well as to provide care for their children while they learn."
Target age
He said while no one would be rejected, the programme would mainly target at-risk and unattached youth. The target age will be 15-30.
"Our aim is to reconnect with young men who have dropped out of school. In urban Montego Bay, there is a 70 per cent dropout rate. We want to re-engage and get them back into the productive sector," the MP stated.
Chang said procurement was now being sought for a suitably qualified contractor, through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund. The project should be completed within nine months after construction begins.
In the interim, he said five satellite centres would be implemented by September in Flankers, Glendevon, downtown Montego Bay, Rose Heights and Granville.
"These satellite centres will offer social and life skills and pre-vocational training, which is designed to advance students to the HEART Trust matriculation level. We are looking at calling the programme 'A New Life'," said Chang. "This will see the training of a cohort of about 100 students. Training will last seven months in the first phase and one year at the advanced level."
The housing minister explained that the training regime would also be used as a database of trained students whose service would be offered to business entities for possible employment.
"The database will maintain the trainees address in an effort to remove the stigma that is attached to some communities," said Chang, adding that consideration would be given to whatever incentives would be necessary to keep students at the centre.