IT is not often that Government and Opposition agree without reservation on a motion, but both sides supported a ‘Bill’ for minimal regimental training to be included in the secondary school curriculum presented in a mock Parliament sitting at Eltham High School, Spanish Town, on November 23.

The Parliamentary session featured members of the Youth Development Party (YDP) — the Government side, and the Youth Development Movement — the Opposition, all graduates of the Youth Development Work Training Course of the National Interschool Brigade in collaboration with the Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP).

The PRP is a programme of cooperation between the European Union and the Government of Jamaica designed to help empower persons in a number of underserved communities to improve their circumstances and their surroundings. The programme is implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

The 72 course graduates, pleased with the experience of the three-week workshop in youth development, remedial education, sports and advocacy, decided on a novel graduation ceremony — a parliamentary-type debate on the motion, “Be it resolved that the Ministry of Education should include minimal regimental training within the secondary school curriculum for first year students.”

In his submission, Ramon Williamson, assistant brigade commander and director of operations at the National Interschool Brigade, declared the work training course “a huge success”.

He said that the 72 trained youth development practitioners drawn from schools and communities in and around Spanish Town can now be “part of the solution” to some of the problems affecting young people in Jamaica.

Noting that youth between the ages of 15-25 years are both “major perpetrators and victims of crime”, Williamson said that, “the National Interschool Brigade plans to use our newly trained youth development practitioners to assist with solutions utilising their new skills in the areas of youth advocacy, conflict resolution, life coaching, peer counselling and youth development work.”

Leader of the Opposition Adeyemi Hamilton, probationary cadet inspector, fully supported the ‘Bill’, which he said “will see the nation on a path of achievement”.

“The training does not only instil discipline but also develops their school and personal lifestyles as they are taught how to carry out responsibilities as citizens of this great nation,” Hamilton argued.

Keosha Barrett, probationary cadet officer and Opposition spokesman on education, submitted that, “minimal regimental training for first year students in secondary schools will prepare them to be role models for students coming in after them and help them to be exemplary adult citizens with a purpose”.

Youth Development Work Training Course graduate Samsu Dempster concurred with all his colleagues and believes he is proof that regimental training should be a part of the school curriculum.

Dempster, 16, remembered his “indisciplined, rebellious behaviour” on entering high school and now credits joining the cadet corps for teaching him discipline, keeping him focused on school work, and generally converting from “a boy that was rude to teachers, parents and everyone” to a respected cadet and school prefect.

Dr Eleanor Henry, project manager of the PRP, congratulated the graduates who she said were now “set to be role models” for their peers.

She said that the training programme which featured several months of on-the-job training in various schools and communities across the Spanish Town central areas and certification in youth development by HEART/NTA, was informed by discussions with participants and the National Interschool Brigade in which they identified problems such as the lack of positive role models, particularly for young men in inner-city communities.

Dr Henry noted that the course graduates had been to correctional centres, organised and administered youth behavioural intervention projects and outreach projects in their communities, and “are already making a positive mark as youth

role models”.