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HEART TRUST/NTA Develops Bamboo Training Courses

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JIS: The HEART Trust/NTA has developed five courses aimed at ensuring competency in bamboo harvesting and processing.

 

This is in keeping with the Government’s move to embark on the large-scale commercial production of bamboo in order to tap into the lucrative international market and provide opportunities for employment and community-based initiatives.

 

The courses are bamboo ply technology, bamboo charcoal processing, bamboo shoots cultivation and pre-processing, bamboo coal harvesting, and bamboo culm harvesting and pre-processing.

 

Manager for Curriculum Development at the training agency, Monica Porter-Lewis, said the training aims to establish standards in the industry.

 

She informed that the syllabuses have been approved by the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) and will prepare persons for “immediate entry into the world of work”.

 

She was addressing a graduation ceremony held recently at the Clarendon Municipal Corporation for young people who have received training and certification in the production of bamboo by-products, including the incorporation of bamboo in light-emitting diode (LED) technology, under the Peckham Bamboo Project.

 

Mrs. Porter-Lewis said the agency is committed to the development of “rigorous, learner-centred curricula, so that people can acquire the cognitive and non-cognitive skills needed to escape poverty, share in economic growth and fulfil their potential”.

 

The Peckham Bamboo Project is being executed by the Clarendon Municipal Corporation through US$130,000 provided by the Organization of American States (OAS).

 

The Peckham Bamboo Project, implemented in 2015, aims to contribute to the development of a viable and sustainable bamboo sector in Jamaica by creating employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in bamboo cultivation and manufacturing of bamboo by-products.

 

CAPTION: Mayor of May Pen, Councillor Winston Maragh (second right), looks at items made from bamboo at a graduation ceremony for young people who received training in bamboo light-emitting diode (LED) technology under the Peckham Bamboo Project. Occasion was the graduation ceremony held at the Clarendon Municipal Corporation on October 28. The bamboo project is being undertaken through US$130,000 in funding from the Organization of American States (OAS).