Angela deFreitas (right), general manager of CHOICES Career Advice Company, explains the concept of CHOICES and its career resources to Senator Basil Waite, opposition spokesman on education, at the ninth staging of the CHOICES Career & Education Expo at the University of Technology in St Andrew recently. Waite was the guest speaker at the event which saw more than 40 exhibitors and a multitude of students, counsellors and teachers in attendance. - Contributed
Hundreds of students, counsellors, parents and young adults turned out for the CHOICES Career and Education Expo held at the University of Technology recently.
With a variety of booths, presentations and workshops, the expo ensured that participants were exposed to a wide array of career guidance information necessary for making informed vocational decisions.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, guest speaker, Opposition Spokesman on Education, Senator Basil Waite, alluded to the National Development Plan, which aims to make Jamaica a developed country by 2030. He noted that one of the things needed in order to achieve that goal is to "bridge the gap between career guidance and policymaking".
Career guidance lacking
For him, guidance counsellors are focused mainly on corrective behaviours for students who misbehave.
"We don't have them focusing sufficiently on career guidance. We have to invest more money in career guidance and guidance counselling in general," Senator Waite said. He, however, com-mended the Ministry of Education for the strides it has made in encouraging more young persons to get interested in guidance counselling.
SHAPING JAMAICA
Mary Nichols, head of the Guidance Counselling Unit at the Ministry of Education, encouraged the students to take advantage of the wealth of information about career choices at the expo.
"The information provided by CHOICES is necessary not only to help you as young people prepare for life after school, but in helping to shape the Jamaica we want," she said. "The career chosen by young people will determine whether Jamaica has sufficient professionals and other workers in the country that we can achieve our targets by 2030."
Social anthropologist Dr Herbert Gayle's presentation on 'The Impact of Criminal Violence on Eduation' was well received by the packed house of counsellors, teachers and principals who attended esp-ecially for that presentation.