Jamaica - Minister of Information Senator Burchell Whiteman is backing plans by the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) to transform the facility's training department into a Media Technology Institute (MTI).
Speaking Monday at the CPTC launch of a month-long series of activities to mark its 21st anniversary, the information minister said the restructuring of the centre is justified by the growth in the demand for training programmes
in a rapidly expanding media sector.
"The expanded CPTC programme will also offer increased levels of training
to the cable industry and other emerging multimedia players," he said.
The new MTI unit will allow the CPTC to expand on its existing 15 courses to
offer programmes in digital audio, print graphics, radio production, and news
writing for radio and television, and allow for accommodation of a wider regional
market.
CPTC has applied to the University Council of Jamaica for full tertiary level
accreditation as well as special diploma level certification for its existing
courses in video production and voice and speech communication.
The centre was established in 1984, under the administration of Edward Seaga,
who also participated in Monday's launch.
Seaga, whose pet theme has long centred on a better quality education, said
that technological advances, such as wireless computers, be incorporated more
in the school curriculum.
He suggested, for example, the use of video images complemented by audio.
"With wireless computers, it is quite possible to establish clusters of
schools operating on one completed server using transmission connections to
be able to portray videos," said the former politician, now a fellow at
the University of the West Indies.
"That is the next step that we must take, because that step will mean
a world of advancement to children in school."
The 21 year-old multi-media training facility offers courses and workshops for
media professionals and persons seeking careers in the media.
The anniversary activities began April 4 with a master class in voice and speech
communication taught by CPTC's former director and chairman, Wycliffe Bennett,
and a thanksgiving church service was held Monday at the Fellowship Tabernacle.
Events to come, or ongoing, include:
. a media exhibition at CPTC's home at Caenwood Centre, Kingston, which runs
throughout the month;
. the inaugural CPTC public lecture and awards ceremony at the Hilton Kingston
Hotel today;
. the screening of the documentary The Green Tunnel at the Palace Cineplex
in Sovereign Centre on April 17; and
. a 'Festival of the Drums' at Emancipation Park in New Kingston on April 29.
