The Jamaica Observer story about The Mico University College’s alternative pathway programme for young people from vulnerable communities piqued our interest.

It seems to us that such initiatives should be encouraged to the hilt, given Jamaica’s disturbingly high levels of unemployment, crime, and antisocial behaviour.

The Pre-University Men’s Programme (PUMP) is remedial in nature and designed for young men who aspire to become teachers but have failed to get enough passing grades in external exams at high school to enter a tertiary institution.

A main goal of the heavily subsidised programme “is to provide young men from vulnerable communities with an alternative pathway, thereby reducing the risk of involvement in crime, violence, and antisocial activity”, our reporter tells us.

A second goal of PUMP is to increase the number of male teachers in Jamaican schools. That’s in the context of an insufficiency of male role models in many homes and communities.

It’s no secret that female teachers significantly outnumber male teachers in Jamaican schools which, for many children, provide not just education/training but are primary sources for the internalising of proper values and attitudes.

Lasting one year, PUMP prepares young men to sit exams for up to three subjects needed to enter a degree programme.

Students also participate in “soft skills” training, including personal development, conflict resolution, public speaking, financial management, entrepreneurship, and sport, among other activities offered by The Mico University College.

Psychosocial support “is also built into the programme to ensure that the students can maintain a healthy school/home life balance and strengthen their coping skills”.

We note the testimony of Mr Mikhail McKenzie, head of the Industrial Technology Department and senior teacher at Oracabessa High School in St Mary, who “transitioned from PUMP” to The Mico University’s degree programme in 2015. We are told that he has since completed a Master of Science in Educational Administration and currently serves as a justice of the peace.

Mr McKenzie testifies that, “PUMP is a great programme for young men. It rescued me from an uncertain future and prepared me excellently for the degree programme.” Crucially, the programme prepares young people for leadership and mentorship roles in their communities. We are told that Mr McKenzie mentors youth in school and community, “carrying on the tradition of PUMP”.

The value of projects such as PUMP comes to the fore when we take into account the view that some people end up on a path of crime because they felt they had no choice.

In a story focused on Jamaica’s notoriously overcrowded prisons, lawyer Mr Alexander Shaw insists that some people now behind bars became career criminals in order “to fend for themselves and their families… because they don’t have sufficient skills to enable them to get a decent job and to earn a decent salary…”

Even those who part ways with Mr Shaw, arguing that many uneducated, untrained people find a way to support themselves and their families without resorting to crime, will readily agree that initiatives such as PUMP are essential aids to socio-economic stability.

Kudos to those — not least The Mico University College — for going beyond the boundary for the greater good of all.