KINGSTON, Jamaica –The Ministry of Education has announced that the Alpha Boys School is to be transformed into a vocational training institution in collaboration with the HEART Trust/National Training Agency.

According to the Ministry the expanded institution will include a full scale music academy with its programmes linked to the Edna Manley College for the Performing Arts.

Plans are already at an advanced stage to establish a music studio and on-campus radio station at the Alpha Boys School campus, the Education Ministry said in release Sunday.

Senior advisor to the Minister of Education, Radley Reid, said that the institution will build on its traditional strengths in the areas of music education, skills training and caring for at-risk youth.

He added that although the residential component is being phased out at Alpha Boys School, “the facilities will also be used as a temporary pull-out centre to treat students with maladjusted behaviour from schools in the Kingston Metropolitan Area. This is in addition to continuing to provide regular schooling for boys.”

Reid also disclosed plans for the delivery of the Career Advancement Programme (CAP) on the campus at Alpha Boys School. CAP offers up to two years of extended secondary education beyond grade eleven.

The transformation of the Alpha facilities is scheduled to commence in the next school year.