Can't find workers

[Jangle]

We need to find a way to drive technology and reap from it.

I agree with YOU on this. Which is a different conversation.

[Assasin]

I agree with YOU on this. Which is a different conversation.

When was this ever the argument???

[Jangle]

Government moving to elevate technical vocational education says Williams

Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, says the University Council of Jamaica is to accredit technical vocational education programmes, as the government moves to place technical vocational education on par with traditional academic qualification and achievement.

The Vocational Training Development Institute (VDTI) is also to become a tertiary institution as part of the initiative, she revealed.

"I'm not just standing up here and giving lip service to it," she assured members of the Rotary Club of Trafalgar New Heights and their guests, as she addressed them late last week at a general meeting of the club held at CRU Bar in St Andrew.


https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/...-says-williams

[Jangle]

Land marked for Jamaica’s first STEAM Academy in St Catherine

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Land has been marked for the construction of Jamaica’s first Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Academy in Dunbeholden, St Catherine.

A Jamaica 60 legacy project, the institution will be part of the Greater Bernard Lodge Development and will be erected on the 22 acres of land reserved for social services.

Addressing a land marking ceremony on Tuesday, Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, noted that the property, which was once a sugar plantation, will be used to prepare Jamaicans for “the new world”.

“To stand on the grounds of a former sugar plantation and say we are going to build a technology school to produce the people of Jamaica, who will not just be consumers of technology, but will become producers of technology… that is the true liberation of our people,” he said.

He argued that as technology develops, it is the nations that own technology that will own the future.

A total of six Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) schools will be built by the government at an overall cost of US$133 million. An institution for the Arts will also be constructed.

Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, said that the land marking occasion is a significant step forward in the Government's efforts to engage and develop students’ interest in STEAM.

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/late...-st-catherine/

[Jangle]

Contractor seeks permission to bring in more Chinese workers

... says attendance issues with locals threaten hospital construction deadline

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton says there is an ongoing need for skilled workers to supplement the depleting pool of local skilled people to build the Western Children's Hospital in St James.


https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/...hinese-workers

[Jangle]

400 workers needed

MARGARITAVILLE Caribbean Group is now on the hunt for an additional 400 people to fill current positions in its restaurants across Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands, but is pushing ahead with plans to launch its newest restaurant concept, the Bob Marley One Love Restaurant at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, next month.

Margaritaville Caribbean Group, which operates roughly three dozen restaurants, mostly in the Sangster International Airport (SIA) through its Express Catering subsidiary, said its staffing level is a fraction of the number the company needs to operate optimally.

"We are 1,000 people and we need to employ people," Ian Dear, CEO and chairman of the Margaritaville Caribbean Group, told the Jamaica Observer in an interview last week.

"We need 400 people across the board in Jamaica and Grand Turk," Alton Thelwell, vice-president for operations at the Margaritaville Caribbean Group, who was part of the interview, chipped in. Thelwell added: "We need 60 to 70 people easily in the Turks right now, and I can't find them." Margaritaville Caribbean Group operates its flagship Margaritaville restaurant at the cruise pier on the island of Grand Turk. It also operates four Margaritaville restaurants in Jamaica – SIA, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril – and one in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. A Margaritaville restaurant that was operated in the Cayman Islands was shuttered during covid and has not been reopened. In addition to those restaurants, the company operates 32 restaurants and a bar in the Sangster International Airport ranging from Dairy Queen, Quiznos Subs and Salads, Cinnabon and Wendy's.

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/busi...orkers-needed/

[Jangle]

Ok Mr. Bright Spark, let's start with Jamaica's literacy rate. Right now it's at approximately 52%, which could be a false reading because of COVID. How many of that 52% has tertiary level education? Of the other 48% uneducated or under-educated population, how many are youths 25 years old and under? Let's go a little further, how many of that younger demographic is made up of unemployed males? Historically, what is the ratio of girls vs boys completing high school? The problem has always been with the young men. How are you going to get this large section of the population to go learn STEM to start the transformation of the economy, and what time frame do you expect to achieve that transformation? This is what I mean about your idea being impractical. During the 1930's, America came with the Big Deal by building the interstate road network which transformed the economy. A practical solution which employed millions.

Tourism has been one of major contributor to Jamaica's GDP over the years. The foundation is laid and it is undebatable that successive governments have not maximized its potential. However, with the renewed thrust for investments into the industry by this government, you can see the immediate and long-term benefits in employing many of the 48%, if you take out the party politics out of this debate.

"A major issue is that 83 per cent of Jamaicans have not attained any tertiary level education, thus restricting their ability to move into the middle class."