Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says students from the pilot cohort of the Hospitality Training Management Programme (HTMP) will sit their final examinations in June of this year.
In a message read by Executive Director of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), Dr. Andrew Spencer,at the official launch of the National Tourism Debate Competition at the S Hotel Event and Conference Centre in Montego Bay, St. James, on February 5, the Minister noted that under the HTMP, 384 students in 22 high schools across the country are currently participating in the second and final year of the pilot, and will sit the final examinations.
“Successful students will be certified through the American Hotel and Lodging Education Institute (AHLEI), which makes them internationally accredited. So, to have students leaving high school equipped for jobs in the tourism industry is certainly a game changer,” Mr. Bartlett said.
The HTMP is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, and the Ministry of Tourism, and is being offered by the AHLEI.
The programme facilitates a two-year training course for students in grades 11, 12 and 13 free of cost, and upon completion, they will gain an Associate Degree in Customer Service, AHLEI certification, National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQ-J) level-four certification, and Customer Service Industry Association recognition.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bartlett also outlined that the Ministryis pleased to endorse the National Tourism Debate,as “it is important that we engage young minds to have deep discourse about what it is that troublesour industry”.
“The knowledge they (students) gain from the indepth research required for extra-curricular activities, such as this debate, complements what the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation does,” he emphasised.
The JCTI was created to increase access to certification for recent graduates as well as workers in the industry.
For her part, Organiser of the National Tourism Debate, Michelle Tulloch, said that she was grateful for the support from the Ministry, and is hoping to expand the competition to a regional one in the near future.
The contest will see high-school students debatingon various tourism-based topics.
The competition, which is in its 10th year, will commence in the coming weeks and will see 16 high schools from across the island participating.
