MONTEGO BAY, St James – In her first public presentation since being named the country’s digital transformation tsar, Cabinet minister and Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon has urged students, fresh from conquering the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams, to set their sights on jobs their parents would never have dreamed of doing.

“There are options like never before. You can be a doctor, or a nurse or a teacher, a programmer of the next revolutionary app. You can also build an app that can change the world. You can be the owner or CEO of a multinational contractor company. You don’t have to constrain yourself to the jobs of today. There are new areas that are out there. There are more jobs now than ever before in Jamaica’s history. The opportunities for you to succeed are growing and they have never been better,” she said.

Morris Dixon was addressing the 26th staging of the East Central St James Scholarship and Welfare Fund Annual Education Awards function held at the Half Moon Conference Centre for students who recently sat the PEP examinations. She was sworn in as Cabinet minister during a ceremony at King’s House on May 25 to serve as minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, with direct oversight for skills and digital transformation as well as the National Identification System (NIDS) and Registrar General’s Department (RGD).

She told the students that as they transition to the secondary level, they should scout for the jobs in demand in an ever-changing world.

“How many of you has ever heard of an IT network systems administrator? What about optoelectronic technologists, mobile robotics, what about digital construction, renewable energy consultants? You notice the parents in the background don’t know about those things?” Morris Dixon asked her captivated audience.

“Parents, it’s not what I saw or what you saw; it’s a completely different world and we have to recognise that all these beautiful children sitting here, they can make their mark in unconventional areas. And when we talk about those areas they are not in America or England or Canada. Every single one of those areas is offered at HEART. HEART offers all that, including optoelectronic technology as a programme,” she stated.

She also implored students to focus on learning practical things online instead of merely focusing on popular social media platforms. These skills, she explained, are just as important as traditional subjects such as maths and English.

“You must have digital skills. And digital skills, I should say, is not the ability to go on TikTok or WhatsApp. It is much more than TikTok. I know all of you are excellent on TikTok. You have to start thinking about cloning, programming, that’s where the world is going. We need to be able to do a digital presentation and there are so many things you are going need for your future,” she challenged.

During the event, conceptualiser of the East Central St James Scholarship and Welfare Fund, Member of Parliament Edmund Bartlett, announced that $5 million had been set aside for primary and secondary students this year. The fund caters to students from primary to tertiary level.

“This year the 120 award winners are from 14 primary schools in the constituency. This year we are spending $5 million on our primary and secondary education programme. And each year we carry our students through all semesters. So we start you at kindergarten, we carry you to primary, we carry you through high school and we carry you through tertiary as well,” said Bartlett, who is also minister of tourism.

“Every teacher’s college in Jamaica has students from East Central St James that are studying now or have graduated. The purpose of that is to make sure we don’t have teacher shortages in East Central because we train them and we tell them that they must come back and teach in the constituency,” he added.