by Linda Straker
Sen Pamela Moses, Junior Minister in the Ministry of Youth has disclosed that the Ministry has embarked on a partnership with call centres in an effort to ensure that as much young people are employed in the sector but there is a challenge with those who are applying for the jobs.
Moses told the Parliament on Tuesday that government’s partnership with the various call centres provides for the ministry to prepare young people for jobs opportunities in the sector, but there is a challenge facing the ministry.
“A lot of young people are looking for jobs and do not have English Language, which is a pre-requisite for working at the centres. They do not have English passes at CXC. So, we are making changes to our training curriculum in the ministry, so that in the future we will not have this as a serious challenge,” she told the sitting of the Upper House of Parliament.
The curricula that will be changed according to Moses are Data Entry, Office Administration and Customer Service programmes. “We are going to train them because there are job opportunities there and we will prepare to taken advantage of opportunities,” she said while explaining that young people need to know, that they need to prepare themselves to get the opportunities for personal growth and development, and gaining a pass at CXC English is very important.
Moses informed the House that call centres have great potential for gainful employment. As a result, there is now a special focus on exploiting that sector by preparing and training young people for the sector where salaries start at EC$800 per month during probation, and can rise to EC$1500 per fortnight after completion of training.
Hundreds of persons are presently employed at call centres located at the industrial parks in Frequente St George, Simon St Andrew and other location in St George’s.