Education ministry shoring up students’ tech skills

CORAL SPRING, Trelawny — Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon says Jamaica must urgently reposition technical and vocational education to prepare students for a future in which
artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the global workforce, arguing that skilled trades are among the occupations least likely to be supplanted by the technology.

Addressing the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information’s Region Six Principals’ Retreat at Ocean Coral Spring in Trelawny on Tuesday, Morris Dixon reminded that there are plans for a major government investment in world-class laboratories for technical high schools across the island. It is part of efforts to modernise Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and remove the stigma traditionally associated with the sector.

“The reality is that the jobs that are less displaced by AI are the technical and vocational ones. When you look globally, those are the roles that are most in demand,” she said.

“For too long, we’ve stigmatised TVET, and we cannot continue to do that in this age of AI,” she added.

The minister said after equipping every technical high school with state-of-the-art laboratories, the Government plans to extend the initiative to other high schools across Jamaica.

Earmarked among the current flagship projects is a world-class mechanical engineering laboratory at Jose Marti Technical High School. Morris Dixon said the facility is intended to rival the world’s best school laboratories.

“The plan is that all these labs will be first-world labs. You should not go to North America and see a better lab in a school than what is here. We are spending the money for it,” she declared, noting that the Jose Marti project is valued above the Government’s procurement threshold and will require Cabinet approval.

Dinthill Technical High School will also benefit from significant investment with the construction of digital construction and mechanical engineering laboratories.

According to the minister, the modern facilities are expected to transform public perception of technical education while equipping students with skills that are increasingly sought after in the global economy.

Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon says there are plans for a major Government investment in world-class laboratories for technical high schools across the island (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

She disclosed that the initiative will eventually be expanded beyond technical institutions, with other secondary schools also slated to receive upgraded laboratories.

“We’re just starting with the technical high schools, but we’re going to extend the programme to other high schools so that they too will benefit from world-class labs,” she said.

Morris Dixon also announced plans to establish robotics, artificial intelligence and coding laboratories across the education system in partnership with the e-Learning Jamaica Company and other stakeholders.

She singled out schools in Region Six, which comprises St Catherine, for priority consideration, citing the parish’s consistently strong performance in mathematics.

“Region Six, especially given how you’re doing in maths, I have to prioritise you for those robotics and coding labs because it is really, really important,” she said.

The minister also highlighted the migration of many of their top-performing students to traditional high schools in Kingston, as another challenge facing schools in St Catherine.

Morris Dixon argued that investment in cutting-edge facilities would help raise the profile of schools in the parish and retain more students at schools within the region.

“The only way we can prevent that is if we raise the profile of the high schools in St Catherine, in Region Six,” she said.

“You do have really good students, but your best students are leaving. So when we see your CSEC results, it’s not really reflective of the communities that Region Six represents,” she added.