ALMOST everyday, a group of grade five students runs businesses at Junior Achievement (JA) BizTown in Kingston. This simulated business city is home to 11 businesses and three Government institutions specifically designed for the education of students.

Through an integrated business-based curriculum, the JA BizTown programme offers grade five students an opportunity to learn about the world of work, how money flows within an economy and the basic skills needed for personal and business success. The programme consists of a four-week in-class learning experience followed by a visit to the JA BizTown facility, where they take part in a simulation of the business economy.

“We worked very closely with the Ministry of Education to pair several aspects of the JA BizTown programme with the grade five and Grade Six Achievement Test curricula,” explained president Alphie Mullings-Aiken.

“The JA BizTown curriculum is geared towards preparing our students to be globally competitive, bringing an innovative approach to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

When a school visits JA BizTown for the day, the students work as employees of Caribbean Broilers, EY, First Global Bank, GB Energy|Texaco, Guardsman, Jamaica International Insurance Company, JA BizTown Newspaper, JA BizTown TV, Jamaica Public Service Company, Jamaica Yellow Pages, LIME, and Spanish Court Hotel in a simulated economy.

JA BizTown also houses an environment planning agency and a tax administration office. JA BizTown supervisor Yaneik Thomas said that the students are assigned various roles including chief executive officer and chief financial officer, conduct transactions with other businesses, get paid, apply for loans, deposit pay cheques, pay bills and buy goods and services. The students, under the guidance of JAJ staff and volunteers, run JA BizTown when they visit.

“The day typically starts with a town hall meeting in which the mayor of JA BizTown welcomes the students to JA BizTown and allows each company head to introduce themselves and their company,” said Thomas.

“The students then go off to work, purchase products and services, and at the end of the day must tally the amount of money their company earned.”

The schools that have completed the JA BizTown programme include:

* Cockburn Gardens Primary

* Denham Town Primary

* Holy Rosary Primary

* St Patrick’s Primary

* Constant Spring Primary

* Seaward Primary & Junior High

“I can now understand why my parents are so exhausted after work,” said Deidriann Wright, student of Holy Rosary Primary.

Students from Holy Rosary Primary wait in line to deposit their cheques at First Global Bank in JA BizTown.