ROSE HALL, St James — After years in the making, the Ministry of Education and Youth has rolled out its Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) initiative which is aimed at providing recognition and credit for skills obtained over the years without certification.

The revelation was made by Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams during a post-Cabinet media briefing held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James on Wednesday.

“The best way to explain this exciting initiative is to consider the following example. Imagine you’ve been providing care for elderly persons in their homes and you have been doing this consistently for the past 10 years. You have gained very useful experience in how to care for the elderly. The issue is that after 10 years of working in this field, despite the very real experience, you have no certification,” explained Williams, who joined the media briefing remotely.

“This programme, Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition, would allow your 10 years of experience to be assessed and recognition of credits — as they would say in the United States — would be given. You would know where on our national qualification framework of Jamaica your experience ranks,” the minister added.

Williams said the initiative will align general education with technical and vocational education with occupational and tertiary degrees.

She noted that the initiative is also applicable to thousands of young people who may have acquired experience in various areas of work and have no certification.

“The Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition allows our young people to gain recognition or credits for the skills and knowledge they already possess and, as such, enhance their educational and career opportunities,” stressed the minister.

“The good news is you don’t have to start over. Your years of experience can be recognised under this programme and mapped into Jamaica’s national qualification framework, which itself is mapped to the national qualification framework in countries such as the US,” she added.

Williams also pointed out how employers can benefit from the initiative. She noted that, through the Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission (JTEC), an entity of the Ministry of Education and Youth, “it ensures compliance with standards and gives guidance to employers as they do the assessment against the national qualifications framework of Jamaica”.