PM APPEALS TO ‘CHOPPAS’
Noting shortage of data engineers, Holness entreats members of criminal underworld to join formal economy
Published:Friday | June 3, 2022 | 12:10 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Wednesday issued a call to the country’s most unscrupulous players in the criminal underworld, arguing that there is a space for them in the formal economy.
The call came during the unveiling of the Amber HEART Institute of Coding at AC Marriot Hotel in New Kingston, where 25 young Jamaicans graduated with Level Four certification in coding from the programme.
Holness, who was the keynote speaker, said that the Government has to be deliberate in creating an environment in which 21st-century skills and talents will emerge.
He said the institute is expected to fill the gap in the field of coding but noted that an even bigger gap exists within the country for data engineers.
“We don’t have that skill readily in Jamaica,” said Holness, “If we had 5,000 data engineers in Jamaica, all of them would be employed. If we had 10,000 engineers, Google, Meta, Apple, all of them would be right here.”
He referenced thousands of unattached youth, including gangsters and the unemployed, who, he said, could better spend their time in the programmes “because the labour market is changing”.
“We want to bring all of you in; all of you who say you are ‘choppas’ ... . All of them who say they are ‘shottas’ or that are gangsters and profilers, there is a space in the formal economy that you can earn a living,” the prime minister said.
‘Choppas’ is a term loosely used, especially in dancehall culture, to refer to scammers, hustlers, or persons embracing get-rich-quick schemes.
He said the directive from his Government is very clear: locate the unattached and train them to meet the needs of industries that are emerging in the country.
Amber Group founder and CEO Dushyant Savadia said the coding institute could serve as the blueprint for the country’s further development by actively training and certifying the workforce to transition to higher value-added jobs.
The institute, he said, has trained problem-solvers, whose skills the private and public sectors must now utilise to innovate, create, and lead Jamaica in technology.
In October, the coding school will open its doors to 500 students, 300 of whom are expected to stay on campus and 200 who will commute.
“I urge Jamaicans to adopt technology because when you adopt technology you allow more employment in this space, which is the fastest growing in the world ... . Oftentimes, technology is the catalyst for change. Let us use technology to propel Jamaica to the next frontier,” said Savadia.