BRIGHTER days have dawned for 14 students enrolled in the electrical installation programme at Brown’s Town Community College. The JPS Foundation has stepped in with a $1-million partnership memorandum of understanding that will significantly assist in their academic journey towards becoming technically certified.

Gratified to empower the youth of St Ann with upskilling opportunities, Sophia Lewis, head of the foundation, said the partnership “will strengthen the electrical installation Level II programme by providing students with modern electrical toolkits, personal protective equipment, and a student support bursary”.

This freshly minted initiative, according to the foundation’s leading lady, “is designed to benefit underserved rural youth across St Ann, Trelawny, and St Mary by enhancing training quality, promoting safety, and improving job readiness, which aligns with national workforce development goals”.

Last year, the JPS Foundation launched the community action project in conjunction with Excelsior Community College. The project aims to provide participants with employable skills and entrepreneurial empowerment.

Hailing from August Town, Seaview Gardens, Queensborough, Seivwright Gardens, and elsewhere, the 33 participants at Excelsior Community College graduated from the five-month programme at the Mountain View Avenue institution in St Andrew, acquiring knowledge in electrical and solar installation, numeracy and literacy, entrepreneurship and life skills.

Fast-forward to the present day, and the just-inked project has been warmly received by Principal Claudeth Haughton.

“The students are being prepared to go into the world of work to support electrical installation activities,” she said.

“The hope is their acquired skill set will move them to continue studying or become gainfully employed. Most of them usually align themselves with construction companies and I believe some of them go out and eventually start their own businesses, but in terms of the early stage, they work with other licensed electricians.”

For Haughton, who has been the steward of the educational institution for the past 11 years, she is delighted that the partnered electrical programme — certified by the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training — will help students facing financial and personal development challenges.

The principal further noted that this year’s cohort of electrical installation students will also benefit from grants.

“In addition to that, there is technical support with a mentorship programme where the students will get an opportunity to go out into the field and engage,” she added.

Complementary support will include field trips to the JPS energy plants and sustained relationships with energy company’s Volunteers On Location To Serve who will act as mentors.

Four months into community college life, 17-year-old Jelani Howard said the programme “has been good so far and not very difficult for me to understand what is being taught”.

The Discovery Bay High School graduate recounted his relative ease in adapting to his new course of study. “It’s a part of me. I have been experimenting with electronics since I was six. I first started off by pulling apart old radios and computers and rewiring sound systems.”

Looking to complete his current studies in June, Howard said he would want to either do his own thing or see about a bachelor’s in engineering.