SAVANNA-LA-MAR , Westmoreland –Thirteen students at the Llandilo School of Special Education (LSSE) are halfway through their journey towards employment via the Job Certification for Hospitality Services Programme.

The seven-month-old programme, the brainchild of Venesa Godfrey-Graham, is a collaboration between the Culloden HEART Trust NCTVET Training Centre in Whitehouse, Westmoreland and the Llandilo School of Special Education (LSSE), in Savanna-la-Mar.

The programme is a first of its kind for the LSSE and Godfrey-Graham, who is also the coordinator, believes it will give students “a sense of belonging in the society and a feeling of self-actualisation knowing that they are certified and can now become gainfully employed”.

As she explained to Jamaica Observer, “These students possess different types of skills that need to be garnered, and since they are trainable, this programme allows them to develop the required necessary skills and competence.”

Participants range from ages 16 to 21 years old. Their various challenges include intellectual disability, TIC disorder, seizure disorder, speech and language impairment as well as Down Syndrome.

Godfrey-Graham came up with the idea for the initiative after she noticed that students at Maud McLeod High School were struggling during the 2021/2022 academic school year.

“This was as a result of students’ failure to be successful in the NCTVET cluster-based external written assessment. A needs assessment was conducted on nine vocational areas within the programme and based on data it was revealed that students had difficulties doing the cluster-based written exam or completing the entire units or modules in the programme,” she said.

“As a result, I initiated the Job Certification Programme which allowed the students to complete smaller amount of units. The programme achieved 98 per cent success rate. Since the students at Llandilo School of Special Education possess different abilities, this programme was deemed suitable for them,” Godfrey-Graham added.

The programme consists of three phases: NCTVET NVQ-J certification in banqueting/function server level 2; NCTVET/NVQ-J certification in employability skills; and the third phase is work experience.

With the first phase completed, the group will begin phase two this September. The goal is to complete the final phase by June 2024, at which point they will be certified and ready for employment.

“Normally, the students would have completed all three phases in year one, and in year two they enrol in another skill area with the same procedure as year one,” Godfrey-Graham noted. “Therefore, at the end of the two years they would have been certified in two different skill areas and would have also gone on work experience twice. But I had to make adjustments during the programme based on the response of the students.”

Principal of LSSE Roy Reid is excited about what this programme means for his students and the institution.

“The benefits to persons who are designated as having a disability, and in particular intellectual disabilities, will be profound as this targeted population in western Jamaica now has the door of training and certification in their chosen field wide open to them,” Reid said.

“It is the 20th anniversary of the LSSE and over the decades the administration has been trying to break the barriers which set back the students in terms of vocational training and access to decent work. We have been blessed with a very patient and dedicated set of teachers/trainers who literally adapted to the situations of the students in order to have the best outcomes for the population. The parents and families of our students are very excited about this latest development because they know the kind of benefits to be accrued over the long term,” he added.