Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter
DR. DONALD Rhodd, State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, revealed last week that there were no major changes to an initial proposal sent to Cabinet concerning the mandatory National Youth Service (NYS).
"Only the budget has been changed," he said. "There is an increase from $750 billion to $1.2 billion."
Dr. Rhodd said the current stipend for participants is $4,000 fortnightly, but that with the minimum wage slated to go up, there was hope for an increase.
He said the proposal would significantly increase the number of persons trained by the NYS.
"We are targeting a move from 3,500 persons to 10,000 persons," he added.
According to Dr. Rhodd, residential and full residential camps are also part of the proposal. He said this would significantly cut the cost, but part residential camps would only be in areas where the camps are close to residential communities.
BROADENING HORIZONS
Dr. Rhodd cautioned that it was cheaper to train young people than to maintain them in lock-ups.
He encouraged persons, with the coming of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, to broaden their horizons concerning how they look at the labour market. He also challenged persons to look outside of Jamaica and the Caribbean.
Andrew Holness, Jamaica Labour Party Spokesman on Education, said the proposal was a good move. He added, however, that he believed there should be two programmes.
"There should be a separate programme to deal with at risk youths, which should be geared towards the inner-city youths," he said. He also argued that such a separate programme could be done through the HEART Trust NTA, the Jamaica Defense Force and the present Youth Service programme.
"It is very necessary in this whole process, as it will become an important tool in fighting crime, especially among youth between the ages of 16 and 24 years old," he said.
