A $62-million information technology (IT) programme was officially launched this week by technology minister Phillip Paulwell at the Stony Hill Heart Academy in St Andrew.

The programme is a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Government of Jamaica, through the Heart Trust/NTA, and Cisco, an American-based company.

Under the agreement, a Cisco Regional Network Academy has been established at the Stony Hill Heart Academy, making Jamaica the only Cisco training site in the Caribbean and part of Cisco’s global network of academies in over 128 countries.

Paulwell said that the launch of the programme marked a significant chapter in the country’s history. “We think it is critical to our mission of building, attracting and retaining a competitive, skilled workforce that can meet the current and future needs of our country. We see it as part of the process of building Jamaica as a country in which information technology is a vital pat of our social and economic fabric,” the minister said.

He added that the Cisco programme would fill a vital need by developing skills that would not be only employed locally but regionally as well.

He noted that despite the challenges faced by the sector, the Government would be forging ahead, adding that, “we have had our challenges and think it is clear to see that we are not faltering, we are not going to retreat”.

Said Paulwell: “This industry means a lot to our people. It is going to represent for us tremendous growth and development for the future and the creation of jobs.”

And looking at some of the accomplishments of the administration’s IT programme, Paulwell said the ministry had ensured that throughout the country, all Jamaicans were given the opportunity to be IT trained.

He noted that in the correctional services centres, inmates were being trained in IT so that after rehabilitation they would be in a position to become productive citizens.

“We are spending millions of dollars in training them there,” he said.

Paulwell said that the ministry was also involved in the training of disabled persons, noting that a person’s disability should not prevent him/her from learning or being trained or earning a living.

“Over the past three years, we have been establishing a number of high-end training facilities and we have to recognise the achievements of the Caribbean Institute of Technology (CIT), which has been in partnership with a number of important players,” the minister said.

He announced that in addition to the three CIT centres established at the Montego Bay Community College in St James, the EXED Community College and the Institute of Management and Production (IMP) in Kingston, the programme would be expanded this year to the Brown’s Town Community College and Moneague Community College in St Ann and Knox Community College in Manchester.

He said that the government had also reduced the cost of the CIT programme from US$6,000 to US$2,000 for students through a scholarship agreement with Cable and Wireless in 1999, where the Government subsidised the programme by US$4,000.

“This is the sort of commitment that we continue to make to ensure that our workforce can fit the needs of the future,” the minister said.

State minister for education, youth and culture, Fitz Jackson also welcomed the establishment of the Cisco IT programme.

“The launch of the Cisco programme represents a fine model of collaboration and partnership between the various agencies and entities of government to provide a well-needed facility and opportunity for our young people. This also underpins the ministries’ commitment to ensure the relevance and applicability of the training that is provided for our young people and the general workforce of this country,” he said.

He added that the Cisco programme represented one more training alternative to the young people “and I want every single young person here to be an ambassador of this institution”.

Robert Gregory, executive director at Heart Trust/NTA, in endorsing the programme said, “the Heart/Cisco partnership is an important breakthrough in the National Training Agency’s efforts to continue bringing world-class training and certification to the Jamaican workforce.

He said that the Heart Trust/NTA would be subsidising the project to reduce the training costs for trainees, who would be allowed to pay their tuition fees over four semesters.

“I want to emphasise the importance of continuing to train and retain our human resources to make Jamaica competitive at the high-end of the global information communication technology industry, no just for the short term but also for the medium to long term. I want to urge the trainees involved in the programme to make good use of this opportunity as they are being provided with skills that will put them among a pool of IT professionals who are in global demand,” he said.

The Cisco programme began in February, this year with 30 students in addition to a second batch of students who started in April. It is a nine-month programme offering day and night classes.

Students enrolled in the programme will culminate their studies with external examinations to attain the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) designation.

Candidates who are successful in the CCNA examinations will acquire the requisite qualification for jobs or to competently serve customers as network engineers and administrators to work in Jamaica’s growing telecommunications industry, as well as to take advantage of opportunities on the world stage.