THE FOUNDATION YEARS, 1982-1989 A Winning Start with Employers and School Leavers On Thursday, the 4th of November 1982, a large gathering of employers, stakeholders in the education and training system, and hundreds of students from across the island, packed the National Arena in Kingston to the rafters for the official unveiling of HEART and its signature School Leavers Training Opportunities Programme (SL-TOP). From the outset, the nation’s employers embraced the value proposition and practicality of this on-the-job training modality that would supply their businesses with a steady streamof school-leavers, who would learn and gain the necessary job experience to attain permanent employment while receiving a HEARTpaid stipend for up to three years. The HEART experiment was a smashing success. SL-TOP trainees, under close monitoring by HEART, acquitted themselves well in the workplace environment and employers reciprocated by hiring most, and in some cases, all of their trainees into permanent full-time positions well within the prescribed three years of on-the-job training. For much of the past four decades, SL-TOPs, as it is more commonly termed in HEART circles, has enjoyed an average job placement rate of 85%, making it, arguably, the Agency’s most successful training initiative to date. The Programme is still a major pathway to the world of work for many school leavers from the secondary school system, and now increasingly from among the ranks of students at tertiary institutions through the Graduate Work Experience Programme (GWEP). Back in 1982, the creation of the HEART Trust was the highest level of coordination of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes ever undertaken in the nation’s history. The Trust mobilised the inputs of six government ministries, several public agencies and statutory bodies and the contributions of a wide range of Private Sector Organisations, individuals and consultants from the international development community. HEART’s enduring success and steady growth into becoming one of Jamaica’s most loved national institutions started with the planting of a seed on a hot day in the summer of 1982. On July 23, a special meeting was convened by Prime Minister Seaga, to which he invited a group of top Jamaican professionals: Dr Joyce Robinson, Steadley Webster, Dr Winsome Gordon, Quince Francis, Gloria Priestly, Ronan Critchlow, Leonard Henry, Lionel Robinson, G R Kirkpatrick, Leon Gordon, J.E.N Stephens, Geoff Messado, George Phillips, Mike Fennell, Henry Lowe, and Geoffrey Brown. There are no historical accounts of that meeting, but what transpired shortly after confirmed that a great idea had been validated; the HEART Act of 1982 was piloted in the Parliament on the 24th of August by the Prime Minister and enacted into law on September 1, 1982. This paved the way for the appointment of Dr Joyce Robinson, andManagement Consultant, Steadley Webster, as the first Chairman of the 20-member Board that would provide strategic oversight of the new training entity. The Academies Programme With the galvanizing School Leavers Training Opportunities Programme now in full implementation in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Dr Robinson would provide the inspiring leadership for the next phase of HEART’s expansion into institutional-based training. Under Dr. Robinson’s leadership, HEARTgrewquickly andpurposefully. By 1984, 10,357 trainees, 728 private sector firms and 65 schools were engaged in the Agency’s training schemes. The addition of the Academies Programme would be another resource for employers seeking to retool and grow their enterprises, while also fulfilling the vision articulated by Mr Seaga at the launch ceremony for HEART, of the academies being ideal training options for rural youth. Graduates of HEART academies wouldhave certifiable skills topursue full-time permanent employment in the job market, or to start their own businesses. “H.E.A.R.T. has proven to be a positive investment in Jamaica’s future so we will continue to work together to ensure the success of this programme which was designed to make Jamaica a better country.” - Steadley Webster, first Chairman of the HEART Trust The early HEART was propelled by the Herculean efforts of an indefatigable team led by Dr Joyce Robinson, the first Managing Director of HEART. ‘Dr Rob’, as she was affectionately called, was a larger-than-life personality, memorialized for her immense capacity for work and an abiding belief in the potential of the young people of Jamaica. “My greatest joy is to see people succeed, to see they have fulfilled their human potential and to know that in some small way I have helped them.” -Dr Joyce Robinson, first Managing Director of the HEART Trust CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 9
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