Education ministry to roll out resource app for young people

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information is fine-tuning a mobile application (app) which will serve as a resource guide for young people.

State Minister in the Ministry, Floyd Green, who was at the inaugural staging of the Elevate Youth Festival on the lawns of Devon House recently,  said the app, which should be rolled out by April will serve as a practical source of information for young people.

“It will have practical uses, for example, if you want to find where jobs are being offered, there is a job portal site. If you want to write a résumé, we actually have a guideline on how you can do your résumé,” he indicated.

“We are going to do beta-testing where we have approximately 100 young people try it out to see how they like it. That process should take another two weeks so hopefully by the end of

Green noted that the app, which was developed by students from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the HEART Trust/NTA’s Vocational Training Development Institute (VTDI), demonstrates that Jamaicans can be both content producers as well as consumers.Director of Communications and Marketing, National Youth Service (NYS), Julia Smiley Green, said the app can serve as a “roadmap to success”.

“All the information that they (young people) would need is on the app. If you are looking for scholarships, if they are looking for schools, if they are looking for assistance with their tuition, if they are looking for essential services such as getting a Tax Registration Number (TRN) or birth certificate, we have put all of that into one area,” she informed.

The Elevate Youth Festival provided a space for young people to showcase their talent in digital art, music, technology and youth lifestyle, while benefitting from the exchange of knowledge and experiences via discussion panels, workshops and networking activities.