The government is targeting 500 young people within five years — 2,500 in total — to equip them with skills training, a one-year job placement in public or private entities, and other opportunities.
High school leavers aged 17 and older are being urged to apply this summer for the Government’s Learning and Investment for Transformation (LIFT) Programme. The internship initiative is focused on fifth and sixth form graduates who have not yet matriculated into further studies.
LIFT is a social re-engineering programme which is set to cost over $2 billion and is a collaboration between the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) through the HEART/NSTA Trust and the Ministry of Education and Youth.
Applicants must be 17 years or older with a high school-leaving certificate; and graduated from high school within the last year in the case of fifth form graduates, or the last two years in the case of sixth form graduates.
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Govt giving youth a LIFT
The government is targeting 500 young people within five years — 2,500 in total — to equip them with skills training, a one-year job placement in public or private entities, and other opportunities.
High school leavers aged 17 and older are being urged to apply this summer for the Government's Learning and Investment for Transformation (LIFT) Programme. The internship initiative is focused on fifth and sixth form graduates who have not yet matriculated into further studies.
LIFT is a social re-engineering programme which is set to cost over $2 billion and is a collaboration between the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) through the HEART/NSTA Trust and the Ministry of Education and Youth.
Applicants must be 17 years or older with a high school-leaving certificate; and graduated from high school within the last year in the case of fifth form graduates, or the last two years in the case of sixth form graduates.
Additionally, applicants must have at least three Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CXC) subjects and they must include maths and English and must submit two character references from a school official, pastor, justice of the peace or MP. They will also need to demonstrate a financial need, as the programme is designed to ensure that individuals who are most in need get the opportunity to participate.
Application forms are available on the website of the HEART/NSTA Trust and at the offices of Members of Parliament in each constituency. A key element of the programme is access and inclusion, and participants are chosen from every constituency.
Eight students will be chosen from each of the 63 constituencies, and people with disabilities are also being considered. Successful applicants will go through a three-phased process which includes rigorous recruitment and orientation exercises which will determine their competences and where they are to be best placed. During the process, their employability skills will also be enhanced where they will be trained in financial and digital literacy. This will be followed by the engagement period where they will be taken through 8 weeks of skills training.
Participant in the programme Jeomhar Griffiths said: “…within that 8 weeks of training we had social mobility companies coming in and sensitizing us to information that some of us were not privy to. Throughout the 8 weeks of training we had self-assessment work packs, we learnt how to deal with conflicts, be part of a team, how to strengthen a team, how to understand workplace relationships, how to self-assess and develop myself into somebody of society.”
In the 8 weeks, they will open bank accounts, get their tax registration number and get their national insurance scheme number. They will also be taken through a programme where they will learn to drive. The LIFT programme will provide them with their provisional driver’s licence and during the period of placement, will collaborate with the various ministries, departments and agencies for them to do their actual driving test to secure their licence.
An aspect of the initiative is the year of immersion where participants are placed across Ministries, Departments and Agencies and in private sector entities in collaboration with the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica.
Another participant, Djuvane Francis said “…this programme helped me to learn how to express myself, I learnt how to self-motivate, I learnt how to self-assess…this programme has really brought me forward, helped teach me how to communicate…the LIFT programme allows you to elevate yourself, also it helps to find your inner self…”
The programme is also about investment and so the young people will be getting $85,000 monthly…$70,000 in hand and $15,000 will be placed in their bank accounts that they will not be able to access until they complete the programme. The first group of applicants have now been placed in jobs and this period will last until November 2024.
THE HEART Trust/NTA was established in 1982 by former Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Edward Seaga. In a bid to satisfy the demand for solutions to the persistent problem of underdevelopment in the country, the former Prime Minister, during the Budget Debate on April 22, 1982, announced that one of his priorities was that of creating a skills-training and employment programme for Jamaicans.
The HEART programme was intended to provide vocational training across the island, which, in the long run, would have equipped Jamaican workers with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for higher levels of productivity. The blueprint of the Trust estimated that 4,000 young people who had passes in GCE and JSCE would have been afforded an opportunity to participate in skills-based programmes.
The Human Employment and Resource Training /National Service Training Agency Trust (HEART/NSTA Trust), known to most Jamaicans simply as ‘HEART’ is Jamaica’s leading human capital development agency. For over three decades, it has been the largest provider of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Jamaica and the Caribbean. It focuses on practical, competency-based training which empowers trainees to transition seamlessly into real workplace scenarios.
