ADDRESS TO

 

GRADUANDS OF HEART PORTMORE ACADEMY,

 

OLD HARBOUR AND LLUIDAS VALE

 

VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRES

 

 

 

 

 

Gillian Lindsay-Nanton

Resident Representative

United Nations Development Programme

Kingston,  Jamaica

 

 

 

 

Jamaica Conference Centre

Kingston, Jamaica

30th November 2000

 

 

ADDRESS DELIVERED BY UNDP RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE,

GILLIAN LINDSAY-NANTON TO GRADUANDS OF HEART PORTMORE ACADEMY, OLD HARBOUR AND LLUIDAS VALE VOCATIONAL

TRAINING CENTRES

 

 

Jamaica Conference Centre

30th November 2000

 

 

 

 

It is my privilege this afternoon on behalf of all of us to congratulate all those who are graduating this afternoon.   You have earned the right to join those thousands of graduates of the HEART Trust/NTA and you should be proud.   We applaud your achievement and we wish you success in your future careers, be it in auto mechanics, garment construction, electrical installation, carpentry or computer studies.    Overtime, we look forward to the contribution that you will make to the future development of Jamaica.

 

Most of what I will say this afternoon will be directed to you graduands, as I am mindful that graduation ceremonies are for those who are graduating.   However, before doing so, allow me to reflect a few minutes on the HEART Trust/NTA and its own contribution.

 

As you are aware, the Human Employment and Resource Training (HEART) Trust was established in 1982 to finance, develop and monitor employment-training programmes and to assist in placing graduates seeking jobs and to promote employment projects.    In 1991, a review and restructuring was undertaken and as a consequence a National Training Support Service was established with the responsibility for coordinating, funding and developing the institutions and programmes necessary to produce skilled and semi-skilled workers for the Jamaican economy.  

 

Today it is pleasing to note that there are now seven academies in six parishes throughout Jamaica and a network of 13 Vocational Training Centres exist across the island.     

 

HEART Trust/NTA is unquestionably an important national educational resource and I have been informed that during the period from academic year 1989/90 – 1996/97, over fifty thousand students graduated in broad skill areas such as construction; apparel and sewn products, and craft skills; and commercial skills.  I should also note too that over this time period, close to twice the number of graduates are females as against males.    There are several consequences that flow from such a trend which is evident in Jamaica today.   Nonetheless, I wish to applaud the vital contribution that HEART Trust/NTA is making to providing training and technology, thereby equipping the Jamaican people to compete and advance in the new millennium.

 

More broadly, HEART Trust/NTA’s mission fits well within the overall vision of the Government of Jamaica and in particular the Ministry of Education and Culture that aims quote  “to provide a system which secures quality education for all persons in Jamaica and achieves effective integration of educational and cultural resources in order to optimize individual and national development”, unquote.

 

As you would know, it is now widely recognized that development of human resources can be both a cause and an effect of economic development.   Education, skills, the knowledge-base and entrepreneurship constitute together the human input into the production process.   Many studies have confirmed the central role of these elements in economic growth of both advanced and developing countries.    More than ever before in this contemporary period, it is the knowledge sector that is driving the growth and development of countries, both large and small.

 

Jamaica, along with the rest of the Caribbean cannot be an exception to this trend which will require comprehensive modernization and restructuring of the educational system; initiatives to build up research and development capacities in a wide range of activities, including the services sector; and sustained efforts to promote widespread development and diffusion of entrepreneurial skills.  The recent attempts by the Ministry of Education and Culture to develop a programmatic sector-wide approach to education, which is reflected in a Green Paper and which forms the basis for broad-based consultations by all interested parties, are steps in the right direction.

 

The need for higher education to produce the skills and technological innovations necessary for Jamaica to survive in the competitive arena of international production and finance cannot be overstated.   The reality of globalization and the information technology revolution which has created an international “knowledge society” are now well accepted. 

 

As I understand it, at one of its Academies, HEART Trust/NTA’s role has also evolved in the information technology area, and the Agency has moved from the training of data entry clerks to being a major trainer of computer programmers and software developers for the high-end value-added information technology marketplace, through its partnership in the Caribbean Institute of Technology (CIT).

 

But while computer programmers and software developers are important, in order to support development in any country, an adequate level of physical infrastructure, is required if economic growth is to be realized.     In this regard therefore, high quality building and construction skills, including carpentry and joinery, masonry, plumbing, pipefitting and electrical installation are essential for helping to build the Jamaica economy.   

 

But there are other pre-requisites as well, if economic growth and development are to take place.   Experience has shown that despite the difficulty in drawing clearly applicable lessons from development history, successful development experiences over several decades suggest a range of complementary policies.

 

 I refer particularly to high saving rates, investment in productive sector activity, substantial investment in education, science and technology; trade in competitive manufactured goods and services and sound macroeconomic policies.  Similarly, development failures have demonstrated that sound institutional structures, competition and the control of corruption are factors that impact positively on economic growth.  

 

The role of the private sector in Jamaica’s development too, is also essential.   Beyond the partnership which must be forged with the government, their contribution in support of training programmes and in providing opportunities for on-the-job training for its workers and trainees, remains vital.  

 

The increased efforts by nongovernmental organizations to strengthen their involvement and participation in the development process should also be supported.   The strengthening of community councils that permit popular participation in decision making on matters that affect the economy and in implementing solutions to community problems, still very much in its infancy, remains an urgent task.

 

As you are aware, Jamaica is facing a number of challenges not the least of which are negative or low levels of economic growth, too high levels of unemployment in the formal economy, high levels of crime and violence and inequalities in income and access to basic social services for many of its people.   While the government has embarked on a number of measures to reverse these trends, far too many women, youths and the poor remain excluded from participating.

 

For you graduands here this afternoon, your responsibility is two-fold.   Not only do you, along with the rest of society become integrally involved in assisting in developing Jamaica, but secondly, and more importantly, as persons who have been trained in various disciplines and trades you have an obligation to contribute individually to the best of your ability in re-building the Jamaican economy.     You have an obligation to make your contribution while adhering to the fundamental values of friendship, peace, justice, high ethical and moral standards, respect for your fellow-man – the principles that form the bedrock of a cohesive society.   You have an obligation within yourselves to commit to honesty and integrity in every aspect of your daily lives.

 

I go further, you carry an added responsibility, for as young people the future of Jamaica is in your hands.   Many of you might well become leaders – at the political level, in the private sector and at the community level.   You carry an added responsibility to turn back what appears to be a growing trend – namely unruly behaviour, disregard for the rule of law, growing conflict and insubordination, disrespect for human rights, and lack of transparency and accountability in both the public and private sector.   We must not underestimate these social developments.  

 

It is my view that any re-building of the Jamaica economy must of necessity take cognizance of certain fundamental objectives.  

 

I refer particularly to the elimination of poverty and the attainment of social justice.  

 

No Jamaican can fail to be deeply concerned about the level of poverty  - which broadly defined entails the denial of choices most basic to human development.  Indeed, the recent Jamaica Human Development Report 2000, incorporates recurring themes such as limited access to employment, housing, appropriate education and training; violence; loss of freedom; police abuses; declining physical infrastructure of communities; politicians as both benefactors and as contributors to problems; and more, as elements that constitute “poverty” in its broadest terms.

 

The legacy of poverty and inequality constitutes a moral issue of the gravest dimension.   It undermines the fabric and stability of the Jamaican society and thereby weakens the prospects for confident economic recovery.    Unless these problems are urgently and aggressively addressed, the prospects for the Jamaican economy are not good.

 

The enhancement of the well-being of all Jamaicans through growth and an improved distribution of economic opportunities must therefore be at the centerpiece of public policy.    The attainment of these objectives requires a cohesive national policy framework.

 

A comprehensive approach to development that includes specific goals such as better health services and educational opportunities, population and development strategies, greater participation in public life, respect for human rights, a clean environment, reduction in income inequality, sound institutions of governance, macroeconomic growth and stability, and a debt reduction strategy, are all critical for improving the lives of the Jamaican people.  

 

Ad hoc and piecemeal approaches to development have proved to be inadequate.   Government, opposition parties, the private sector, trade unions, and civil society representatives must agree on the fundamentals, particularly at this time, in support of broad based development.   Development partners of the international community too, have a role to play in that regard.  

 

As graduands this afternoon, my call is for you to become more involved in shaping future developments in Jamaica.   You cannot be apathetic or complacent about the current developments that are taking place.    You must find ways and means of getting involved and being in the forefront of national issues.  You must inform yourselves and you must demonstrate your capacity for assisting in transforming, in a meaningful and positive manner, the Jamaican economy.   You must demonstrate that as a generation of young people and potential leaders that you are capable of a quantum attitudinal change that will reshape the economic and social force of Jamaica.    You have an obligation to do so.   You cannot do any less.

 

And so this afternoon, I charge each of you to commit to supporting the building of a ‘new’ Jamaica and to advance the position of the poor and disadvantaged in our society.   As graduands you are now in a new position to make that contribution.  

 

I wish to conclude.   These are challenging times.   The occupational skills that you possess are needed to build Jamaica.   So too are your entrepreneurial skills which is the foundation for self-employment.    You must use them with the creativity, innovation, and energy that would be required to confidently secure Jamaica’s position in the 21st Century.     

 

And as you leave the Jamaica Conference Centre this afternoon, let us remember the words of one of the great founding fathers - Norman Washington Manley - which he spoke some 60 years ago when Jamaica was contemplating self-government.

 

“…This country can only become worthwhile if all the discordant and disunited elements in it can be knitted into a new unity and that can only be brought about by the development of a national spirit.”

 

I believe that these words are quite appropriate today. 

 

I wish you every success in achieving your collective and individual goal.

 

And may God bless you.

 

I thank you.