THE State-owned Universal Service Fund (USF) has called a halt to its ambitious Technology Advancement Programme (TAP) which was launched to train unattached Jamaican youth in information and communication technology (ICT)

Launched in 2017, TAP was designed to engage youth aged 18-29, over a 12-month period, in ICT training and apprenticeship experience.

The initiative was in keeping with the USF’s mandate under the Telecommunications Act 2012 to support information and communications technology programmes that specifically target vulnerable groups, including youth and disabled persons.

But addressing the latest Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, USF Chief Executive Officer Charlton McFarlane said that TAP has been paused while it is reviewed.

“We have done three cohorts of TAP, but at this point we took a decision to suspend the TAP programme so that we can actually do an evaluation of it,” McFarlane told Observer editors and reporters.

“We need to look at the value for money against the fact that the USF, as it is now, the revenue inflows are not as robust as they used to be. So we have had to look back at our programmes and to see what programmes are providing us with the maximum value for money,” added McFarlane.

He said while TAP is a very valuable initiative, because it is training-focused, “We are of the view that TAP may be, through dialogue and some form of framework agreement, better placed in one of the training institutions.”

McFarlane was not in a position to say immediately how much the USF has spent on TAP so far but when it was launched it was announced that the programme would cost $450 million in the first year and train 1,000 youth.

According to McFarlane, some 1,700 youth have been trained in core skills, computer repairs, computer administration, and digitisation under the programme.

Launched 20 years ago, the USF, an agency under the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, is mandated to ensure access to information and communication technology tools to facilitate development.

It is funded through a US$0.03 universal service levy on domestic telecommunications providers for all inbound telephone calls.

This has forced the Government to provide budgetary support for the entity which has also had to draw on its reserves from its more fruitful years.