CORAL SPRING, Trelawny — Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon says Jamaica must urgently reposition technical and vocational education to prepare students for a future in which artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the global workforce, arguing that skilled trades are among the occupations least likely to be supplanted by the technology.

Addressing the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information’s Region Six Principals’ Retreat at Ocean Coral Spring in Trelawny on Tuesday, Morris Dixon reminded that there are plans for a major government investment in world-class laboratories for technical high schools across the island. It is part of efforts to modernise Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and remove the stigma traditionally associated with the sector.

“The reality is that the jobs that are less displaced by AI are the technical and vocational ones. When you look globally, those are the roles that are most in demand,” she said.