Ministry, THA to Amplify youths’ opportunities

Minister of Youth Development Foster Cummings, left, with Secretary for Youth Development Joel Sampson, right, technical adviser, Division of Education, Ann Natasha Second, and another official at Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort, Lowlands, September 17. -

THE Ministry of Youth Development and National Service (MYDNS) on September 17 launched a new training and certification programme, Amplify, at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort in Tobago. The programme is a music-production and life-skills initiative for youths.

Minister of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings said the focus is on six auxiliary training courses in music and media: voice training/singing, stage presentation, voice presentation and life-skills, digital photography, introduction to video production and graphic design.

Cummings said, “Some of us just got our voice training when we went to Sunday school and we would live with that for the rest of our lives, but if you want to turn that talent into a business, then amplify is one of the programmes that you should take advantage of.”

He said the launch in Tobago represented a collaboration between central government and the THA.

Cummings said he has met people very skilled in woodworking, plumbing and other fields, but, unfortunately, they did not have the required certification.

“They got those skills over time, experience, practice."

Amplify is part of the PLAR (prior learning assessment and recognition) programme.

Cummings said, "What PLAR does is allow these very skilled persons to come into this national training agency programme and they would assess them and do whatever additional support they need to give them; and they can then be certified based on their level of skill, giving them the opportunity to matriculate into other programmes if they wish to do so or upskill in their current vocation.

"That is the kind of platform that we are setting as a government for our people.”

THA Secretary for the Division of Community Development, Youth Development and Sport Joel Sampson said through the PLAR programme, doors will be opened for young, skilled, aspiring individuals who may not have had the opportunity for formal certification.

“Many of our young men and women possess remarkable skills and competencies. This programme provides a pathway for them to earn the TT national vocational qualification or the Caribbean vocational qualification, which they so richly deserve.”

Sampson said Amplify speaks to the creative potential of young people, noting that music and entertainment are powerful industries and engines of growth.

“This initiative will give our youth the technical and creative skills to thrive in this industry and equip them with the life skills necessary to build sustainable livelihoods. Amplify will show our young people that their creative dreams are not just passions only but they can be professional realities.”

He said these programmes were not just acronyms, describing them as keys to the future where competence matters.