Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, has issued a call for private-sector leaders to actively collaborate with the Ministry and align investments with future workforce demands.
Speaking at the High-Level National Digital and AI Skills Roundtable on Tuesday, (September 29), at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, Dr. Morris Dixon highlighted some of the structural shifts under way in Jamaica’s education system but noted that a partnership with the private sector is required to advance the workforce transformation.
“Nearly 40 per cent of the skills required in jobs are expected to change by 2030. Four out of 10 jobs will have to change… . Our task is bigger than training for training’s sake. The policy mission of the administration is to build a skills system that is connected directly to economic opportunity,” Dr. Morris Dixon stated.
She pointed to improvements in the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations as evidence that foundational critical-thinking skills are already taking root in primary schools, yielding higher-calibre students at the high-school level.
To sustain this momentum, she emphasised that institutions like the HEART/NSTA Trust must adapt to better serve the productive needs of the Jamaican economy.
“So, this new model that we’re looking at, we have to ask industry some questions as we do our work in the Ministry of Education,” Dr. Morris Dixon said.
“We have to ask what do you need? What occupations are becoming difficult to fill?… What kinds of skills are becoming more valuable?… And perhaps most importantly, what skills do you anticipate needing three or five years from now?” she questioned.
She noted that with the answers to these questions, the education system can be adjusted, especially at the high-school level, to meet industry standards.
The High-Level National Digital and AI Skills Round Table was hosted by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), in collaboration with ‘iamtheCODE’ Caribbean, the local arm of the Africa-led global movement, iamtheCODE Foundation, which was founded by Lady Marieme Jamme.
Co-Founder of iamtheCODE Caribbean, Mariame McIntosh Robinson, echoed the urgency for cross-sector coordination, citing World Bank data showing that while 36 per cent of Jamaica’s workforce (ages 25-64) holds a Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) accreditation, limited formal digital skills training accompanies it.
“Access to capital is often cited as a constraint to business growth. But lately, the whispers have crescendoed into an outcry where businesses are saying, I can’t find access to human capital. So… our goal is to ensure that we make our mark pulling people together to make a difference from a human capital standpoint,” Mrs. Robinson pointed out.
She detailed the progress of iamtheCODE Caribbean, which was launched last year in Jamaica.
The self-paced, fully remote learning platform provides a customised eight-module curriculum balancing technical computer coding language training with soft skills like design thinking, communications and project management.
Mrs. Robinson announced that applications for the second cohort of the initiative are currently open and will begin in November.
It builds on the success of cohort one, which included 160 learners, 90 of whom completed foundational HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and 40 completed all eight modules.
“While iamtheCODE focuses on girls and women across the world, for Jamaica, we made it clear at the beginning that we have an equal focus on men and women, boys and girls, because of what we’re trying to strive for in our society,” Mrs. Robinson added.
Jamaica is the 89th country to join the global iamtheCODE movement, which aims to empower one million women and girls with digital and STEAMD (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Design) skills by 2030.
