The Transition of Jamaican - International Labour Organisation ...

• inner city schools should be invited to forums where education and entrepreneurship
are promoted (only traditional high schools were often seen at these events)
• expand type of vocational skills offered in high school – eg computer repair
• importance of networks – it’s who you know, not what you know more likely to get
you a job (“links”)
• government could implement voluntary community service to build skills and work
experience
• need to empower/stimulate youth to create their own employment (even if the youth
have an idea, there is lack of access to finances to put ideas into action/ many young
people have great ideas, but the path to success is often absent)
• youth need to be involved in mentorship programmes as a means of empowerment
• youth need to motivate each other
• hotels should be required to employ a certain number of Jamaican students
• students should have the opportunity to sit SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and other
US based exams in secondary school
• youth should be taught entrepreneurial skills in school in order to help them to create
their own business opportunities
Education and Training
Concerns/Issues
• most of the schools need better teachers (some teachers are boring and don’t know
how to treat people)
• there is a bias in the way some schools are regarded, for (eg. Denham Town vs
Kingston College and Tivoli vs Calabar High)
• the way in which information is brought to the students is ineffective
• male teachers help the female students more
• teachers overlook female students who would like to participate in non-traditional
subjects such as Metal Work
• male teachers sometimes want to communicate with female students on matters apart
from teaching
• subject choices are not democratic
• sometimes doing compulsory subjects are a waste of time and youth normally don’t
have much say in choosing the subjects they want (you have to do a science subject
which is not always relevant to their interests or capabilities while other subjects
could be done which links career preference)
THE TRANSITION OF JAMAICAN YOUTH TO THE WORLD OF WORK
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