The Government is investing $400 million this year to upgrade laboratories in technical high schools, to better prepare students for a future driven by science, technology, and innovation.
Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, who made the disclosure, said the funds, which are being allocated through HEART/NSTA Trust, will be used to equip at least one laboratory in every technical high school with state-of-the-art facilities.
“If we look at where the world is going, the top jobs are in the technical areas. That’s where the money is to be made and we have to help our children to understand that,” Dr. Morris Dixon said.
She was addressing day three of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) 61st Annual Conference at the Princess Grand Hotel in Green Island, Hanover, on August 20.
Dr. Morris Dixon pointed out that among the facilities being established are robotics labs at Dunoon Park Technical High School, Knockalva Technical High School, Frome Technical High School, and St. Elizabeth Technical High School.
Renewable energy laboratories will be installed at St. Andrew Technical High School, Marcus Garvey Technical High School, and Holmwood Technical High School, she added.
The Minister said that Kingston Technical High School and Vere Technical High School will receive virtual welding laboratories, while St. Thomas Technical High School is being equipped with an electrical engineering lab.
Other institutions include St. Mary Technical High, which will benefit from a robotics and industrial controls lab in the area of mechatronics; Herbert Morrison Technical will receive an optoelectronics lab; and José Martí Technical and Dinthill Technical will get mechanical engineering labs.
“We are not thinking small. It is us saying to our children that you deserve the best. What they have in North America or European schools is what we are working to bring here,” Dr. Morris Dixon underscored.
In the meantime, she noted that the Government’s vision extends beyond technical high schools.
She pointed out that a similar investment is pending to upgrade labs in all regular secondary high schools in the coming years.
This expansion is part of a broader plan to bolster education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).