A local businessman has urged the HEART Trust/NTA to up its game in preparing trainees for t he wood products and furniture sector.

“HEART, for example, has issues with regards to training and what is actually delivered to the student base. So when the students leave out of HEART, they are still not able to function in the field,” Mortimer McPherson, president of the Jamaica Wood Products and Furniture Association, told a recent meeting of Observer editors and reports.

Also the owner/operator of The Source — a manufacturing and engraving company in Kingston — McPherson noted that he hires HEART trainees and can, therefore, personally attest to this.

He said that oftentimes the deficiency is due to the trainees’ ignorance of how to operate various pieces of machinery. At other times, he said, the problem lies, with their ignorance of the drawing and design aspects of the job.

“A young man coming out of HEART should have the basic skills to understand even the simplest machines. He should at least know all the machines available in his country (and) be able to operate them even minimally,” McPherson said.

The deficiencies in their design capabilities quickly become evident after they have entered the world of work.

Against this background, McPherson has criticised HEART trainers for what he described as their failure to equip themselves with the appropriate content to deliver to the students. However, himself a former teacher of art and history, McPherson said he is not unsympathetic to what he sees as the impaired ability of the institution to train students better, due to their lack of expertise and the current structure of their curriculum.

He has, therefore, offered to help HEART in their training efforts.

“We can be HEART teachers too and we can take on the HEART training because in the association we have the expertise to do that,” he said, adding that Government should engage the association so that they can help to train the youths, whether by way of workshops, seminars or demonstrations.

Acting executive director of the HEART Trust/NTA Colin Barnett acknowledged McPherson’s concerns of the Jamaica Wood Products and Furniture Association and said they were now in the process of preparing a plan of action to remedy the deficiencies.

“We welcome the suggestion (to help boost training). We would be more than happy to sit with him and members of his association to discuss our plans and to get his input,” Barnett told Career & Education.

He added that the programme for the furniture-making industry are currently being upgraded, with the development of level three, four and five programmes. HEART previously only offered up to level two, which did not include teaching designing.

“We are even in discussion with the Edna Manley School (of the Visual and Performing Arts) to see to what extent they can be a part of this in helping with the design areas in the furniture-making industry,” Barnett added.

At the same time, he said that HEART — through an agreement between the governments of Jamaica and Brazil — is seeking to upgrade their furniture labs, including providing them with equipment valued at about US$500,000.

“Aside from the labs being upgraded, they are also providing training for our instructors who will be going to Brazil to be trained in the relevant areas of furniture-making,” Barnett said.

“We are also at the table with the Jamaica Business Development Corporation in relation to the furniture and wood products industry so it will provide us with an opportunity to get further feedback on these programmes that we have designed to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the area,” he said further.