FLANKER, St James — Several unattached youth in the inner-city community of Flanker, St James, and its environs are set to be trained in a wide range of marketable skills through a training institution that will be established in Flanker next month.

The institution, which is the brainchild of Member of Parliament for St James North Western Dr Horace Chang, is being supported by the HEART Trust/NTA, which has pumped roughly $9 million into the programme.

The training institution, which is expected to open its doors to the first batch of trainees on February 15, will be housed at the Flanker Multi-purpose building and will offer courses in housekeeping, bartending, heavy-duty equipment operation, waitering, mechanical skills, training in the BPO sector, literacy courses, training in the musical and performing arts, and small equipment repair.

Eighty per cent of the courses will be in literacy skills. The institution will be named the ‘Flanker Multi-purpose Training Institute’.

Dr Chang noted that the training centre is aimed at giving the youth ‘on the corner’ an opportunity to realise their true potential and value in society.

“If I can provide a platform to empower and make them [the youth] gainfully employed, then my job as their member of parliament will be much easier,” he argued.

Dr Chang, who is also the minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, noted that the training centre will be a catalyst in spurring economic activities in Flanker and surrounding areas.

“I also intend to approach the Maritime University to conduct training in maritime-related skills and will also be approaching the Jamaica Social Investment Fund for funding of the institution,” he stressed.

According to Dr Chang, the programmes that will be offered are guided by the demands of the labour market, such as the hotel sector, the BPO sector, and the overseas employment programme.

He further noted that people who are trained in heavy-duty equipment operation will easily find well-paid jobs both locally and overseas, as there is urgent need for those types of skills.

Dr Chang said that he will also be engaging local hotel operators with a view to have them employ the trainees when they have completed their training.

In the meantime, Councillor Charles Sinclair (Jamaica Labour Party, Flanker Division) has welcomed the initiative, arguing that it will assist greatly in breaking the back of unemployment and illiteracy in the division.

According to Councillor Sinclair, unattached youth in the area will now have an opportunity to acquire a skill and be gainfully employed, and therefore they will also be able to take care of their families and enhance their communities.

In pledging his full support for the programme, Councillor Sinclair pointed out that the initiative is the beginning of a raft of social programmes that he and the member of parliament will be unveiling in the division in the near future.

The Flanker Multi-purpose Training Institute will be managed by a board chaired by Montego Bay businessman Howard Ward.