JIS: Jamaica National (JN) Foundation has collaborated with Mathematics and Science Professor at Columbia University, Christopher Emdin, to launch its ‘Science Genius Jamaica’ education project, which fuses dancehall music with science.

 

The project was officially launched during a function held at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston on Wednesday (February 22).

 

Whereas Science Genius uses hip-hop music in the United States to reach students, Science Genius Jamaica will use dancehall music to bring the subject to life for students and teachers in an exciting ‘dancehall clash’ competition that is geared at helping them to explore and discover the wonders of science.

 

Senior Manager, Learning, Development and Culture at JN Group, Dr. Renée Rattray, said the initiative aims to inspire the confidence of students by using music and culture to get them more enthused about learning.

 

“As part of the broader science movement initiated by Chris (Prof. Emdin) in New York schools a few years ago, our project aims to connect youth culture with education, so that learning the rigourous content of mathematics and science becomes more effortless for young people,” Dr. Rattray said.

 

She noted that data show that students are not performing as well as they should in mathematics and the core science subjects. She said the pass rate for Mathematics is 48 per cent; Chemistry, 57 per cent; and Physics, 63 per cent.

 

“The influence of dancehall on our young people is a no-brainer. It is our popular culture and its influences, today, extend beyond class boundaries and country borders. It is like the air our children breathe,” she said.

 

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr. the Hon. Andrew Wheatley, welcomed the project, noting that it is intended to convert students into science lovers through the use of popular culture.

 

“I thank the JN Group and its Foundation for setting an excellent precedence in public-private sector partnership in assisting in the rescue mission of science and mathematics in Jamaica. So let me say thank you for your efforts in birthing the new generation of scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, engineers, botanists – both girls and boys,” Dr. Wheatley said.

 

He also thanked Professor Emdin for taking the time to come to Jamaica to introduce his model of fusing popular music with science and mathematics education.

 

“Importantly, and as the educators have stated, this new fusion approach brings the sciences and the arts together and, in the land of reggae and dancehall I believe it will reap positive results in the near future and improve the national Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Science performance,” he noted.

 

State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green also commended the JN Group for its inititiave.

 

“We all recongnise now that no one cap fits all and no one size fits all and you have to take different approaches if you are going to truly connect with your students,” Mr. Green said.

 

Meanwhile, Professor Emdin noted that by merging dancehall to science “you are retraining the brain of youth who are embedded in dancehall, to reimagine themselves as scientists”.

 

“We are engaging in not just a cute programme; we are engaging in rewiring our generation,” Professor Emdin said.

Under the project, grade-nine students and teachers will be invited to submit videos to the JN Foundation Team by Tuesday, February 28.

 

Teachers and students will be coached over a five-week period to create and deliver dancehall and reggae songs with purely scientific content.

 

Project Ambassadors Tifa and Wayne Marshall will visit the schools and mentor students and teachers as well as assist them with the development of their songs.

 

In the final phase, teams will engage in classical dancehall clashes called BATTLES, an acronym for Bringing Attention to Transforming Teaching, Learning and Engagement in Science.

 

The five best schools and five top individual students will move on to the final round of BATTLES, where they will be judged by a team comprised of the project mentors, other professionals from the music industry, scientists and educators.

 

Teachers and students will compete for cash, laptops, among other prizes. The winning school will also receive funds for its science labs.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr. the Hon. Andrew Wheatley (right), speaks with Senior Manager, Learning, Development and Culture at the Jamaica National (JN) Group, Dr. Renée Rattray and Mathematics and Science Professor at Columbia University, Christopher Emdin. They were at the launch of the ‘Science Genius Jamaica’ education project at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston on February 22.

JIS: PLANS are in high gear as schools at all levels of the education system prepare to celebrate Jamaica Day tomorrow.

 

Jamaica Day is celebrated annually as part of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information effort to instil the spirit of nationalism that is necessary for the social and cultural development of the country.

 

The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Celebrating Jamaica: Exploring Our Legacy in a Global Context’.

 

Explaining the reason for the theme, senior education officer and chair for the Jamaica Day Planning Committee, Marlon Williams, toldJIS News that during a visit to Jamaica Archives Registry Department (JARD), he recognised that the department “plays a critical role in preserving a lot that has to do with us as a nation”.

 

“So we want to showcase what JARD does and at the same time show how it will be beneficial to our students, and to highlight areas of legacies and what students can do to start creating their legacy,” he said.

 

Williams added that schools are encouraged to look at people, programmes or initiatives in their schools, communities, Jamaica, and internationally that may have created a legacy — something that the schools are proud of that they can highlight and celebrate.

 

“We also want to inculcate in our students that they can start creating legacies from now that will be celebrated in the future,” he said.

 

This year the school to be featured nationally is the Green Island High School in Hanover, representing region four.

 

According to Williams, this school is very resourceful and culturally aware, and has been contributing a lot to nation- building through the performing arts.

 

“When you look at their performance in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) festivals, as it relates to speech and drama, they have been doing well over the years.Their performance in the CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) Drama examinations is exemplary, and last year the CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations) performing arts were introduced and this school performed exceptionally well in the examinations. So I can safely say that Green Island High has already started to create a legacy,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, in theother education regions, focus schools have been selected for Jamaica Day celebrations. In region one there are Wolmer’s Boys’ School, St Aloysius Primary School, Kingston College, and Vaz Preparatory. In region two the focus school is Yallahs Primary in St Thomas; region three, Brown’s Town High School; region five, Holland Primary in St Elizabeth and Port Henderson Primary in St Catherine.

 

Williams is appealing to corporate Jamaica, government entities and departments, and Jamaicans in the diaspora to celebrate Jamaica Day by wearing the Jamaican colours (black, green and gold) or the bandana or just do something to celebrate Jamaica.

 

CAPTION: These bright-eyed girls were spotted in their bandana outfits last year at Culture Day celebrations at Jamaica House Basic School in St Andrew.

JIS: The Government continues to create financing options for higher education with an additional $30-million scholarship grant provided through the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service/PetroCaribe Development Fund (PDF).

 

This is being administered through the Ministry of Finance’s Scholarship and Assistance Unit, and is part of ongoing efforts to provide state interventions to facilitate human-capital development in the country.

 

Addressing the launch of the scholarship programme yesterday (February 22), at the Ministry, in Kingston, Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, said the initiative reflects measures being taken by the Government to assist students to fund higher education.

 

“The Ministry is extremely grateful to PetroCaribe and the Ministry of Finance for facilitating this important (programme). It is consistent with our aspiration to have all our youth going on to tertiary institutions to gain at least a first degree, occupational or transfer degree by age 30. In this fourth industrial revolution, we have to have a cadre of trained professionals to get the job done,” Senator Reid said.

 

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, said the initiative is part of a multisectoral approach to facilitate more opportunities for human-capital development, which is one of the most important aspects of national development.

 

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry and PetroCaribe was signed in 2015 to implement a tertiary scholarship programme.

 

Since its inception, approximately 25 awards totalling $7.9 million have been disbursed to students pursuing studies at the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI), Shortwood Teachers’ College and the University of Technology (UTech).

 

In 2016, the PDF Board approved the additional grant for the scholarship programme. It is anticipated that the increase will make it easier for persons pursuing higher education to achieve their career goals.

 

From this grant, scholarships will be awarded to Jamaican citizens pursuing undergraduate studies (academic or technical), postgraduate studies, or research leading to a university degree or professional development in key growth industries – energy, entrepreneurship, logistics and Spanish.

 

The programme targets Jamaican citizens from lower socio-economic and vulnerable groups between the ages of 17 and 57, including youth, at-risk youth, women, persons with disabilities and persons impacted by HIV/AIDS.

 

Applications for the PDF scholarship programme are now open. For more information, persons can visit: http://www.mof.gov.jm/scholarships.

 

Also attending the launch were Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Rudyard Spencer; Chief Executive Officer of the PDF, Dr. Wesley Hughes and Deputy Financial Secretary, Strategic Human Resource Management, Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Wayne Jones.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, said the initiative is part of a multisectoral approach to facilitate more opportunities for human-capital development, which is one of the most important aspects of national development.

JIS: Commissioner of Corrections, Ina Hunter, is urging parents to be more watchful of their children.

 

Speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on February 21, Commissioner Hunter said poor parenting and neglect are two factors that contribute to children being detained at the South Camp Road facility of the Department of Correctional Services.

 

“It is important that parents know the warning signs that lead to delinquency in children. Many youngsters who come to us are not bad, they just did not get the intervention to prevent them from committing an act that would lead them to the wrong side of the law,” she said.

 

The Commissioner pointed out that children usually display many telltale signs before deviating from normal behaviour. These include cursing, abusive language, shouting, violent threats when angry, drug or alcohol use, taking weapons to school, decline in academic performance, refusing disciplinary actions, bullying and intimidating peers or younger children, significant mood swings and being unusually silent.

 

“Parents, you can save them from coming to us. Spend more time assessing the small things, investigate, listen to what is said and what is not said,” Miss Hunter urged.

 

She also encouraged parents to do constant check-ups at the school and with the parents of the child’s close friends, noting that this could go a far way in preventing a youngster from becoming a ward of the State.

 

The Commissioner said that in addition to destroying lives and families, delinquency among youth puts tremendous financial burden on society.

 

Miss Hunter emphasised that if parents assist with preventing misbehavior, this can help to reduce violent crimes.

 

CAPTION: Commissioner of Corrections, Ina Hunter, addresses JIS ‘Think Tank’ on February 21.

 

JIS: They suffer in silence, afraid to speak up. Suppressed by fear, these child-abuse victims are led to believe that they are powerless to do anything about their situation.

 

Their cries are muffled by those meant to protect them. Through ‘Aria’s Story’ these young victims are being empowered to speak up and speak out about abuse.

 

An eight year-old victim of abuse, Aria is an animated character, who was created to lend her voice to those suffering in silence by telling their stories for them.

 

The brainchild of the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA), Aria’s Story defines and highlights the nature and types of abuse that children experience, in order to provide those in abusive situations with information to take preventative actions and find solutions.

 

The initiative is being undertaken with funding support from the High Commission of Canada in Jamaica.

 

The online animated series, which began airing at www.ariastory.com, on February 13, chronicles Aria’s life of domestic servitude and sexual abuse at the hands of her uncle, when she is sent from her home in rural Jamaica to live with her “well off” aunt in Kingston.

 

Aria’s only escape from this reality is through identifying with characters from a book she finds while cleaning one day. This book features six characters that are grappling with different types of abuse.

 

Describing this innovative public-education campaign as a “social digital revolution” Children’s Advocate, Diahann Gordon Harrison said the aim is to encourage children to speak up when they have issues facing them.

 

“Our hope is for children in Jamaica to be empowered through the knowledge that they will garner, to be assured that they are not alone in their various situations, and for adults to be exposed to the realities that some of our children face and, ultimately, for them to model appropriate responses to these situations,” she said.

 

She was speaking at the media launch of the campaign at the agency’s offices in downtown Kingston on February 7.

 

As persons follow Aria’s Story over the next two months, they will get to see how Aria eventually gains her freedom, having learnt what each of the six children did to escape their situations and find avenues for help.

 

Helping Aria to tell her story is Stacy, who is 14 years old and experiences sexual abuse as well as domestic violence between her parents. There is also 15-year-old Yuri, who is being molested by an adult male relative; 12-year-old Lisa, who is a victim of bullying; and Brian, 12 years old, who is enduring child-on-child abuse.

 

The other characters are 15-year-old Tashanya, who is dealing with self-esteem issues, online predators and human trafficking; and 14- year-old Darell, whose story centres around violence against children by negative elements in society.

 

“The stories and the situations put the pain and the negative experiences children face into sharp focus, but end with that reverberating message of hope, resilience and the ultimate lessons that are taught through each episode,” Mrs. Gordon Harrison said.

 

The website will feature interactive content, where persons have the option to send direct messages, and bring issues to the OCA’s attention.

 

“We anticipate and hope, as well, that we may even get some reports coming out of the sensitisation and the empowerment that we hope to be bringing to persons to tell their stories,” Mrs. Gordon Harrison said.

 

She noted that there will also be ongoing social media awareness strategies that will accompany the unfolding of the episodes, pointing out, for example, that Twitter chats will be hosted at critical points across episodes to engage the public and to ensure that the larger messages are not being lost.

 

State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, in endorsing the campaign, said it presents an innovative way to bring a number of issues to the fore “and to help our young people confront those issues… and also encourage our young people, when they are facing issues of abuse, to speak up”.

 

For his part, High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica, His Excellency Sylvain Fabi, said the initiative was “a nice way to expose children to the fact that these things exist, especially when they are a victim of it; they know it’s not only them; this project will allow them to find solutions”.

 

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, and Opposition Spokesperson on Youth and Culture, Lisa Hanna, also welcomed the initiative, which is expected to reduce the incidence of child abuse in Jamaica.

 

Opposition Spokesperson on Information and the Knowledge Economy, Julian Robinson, also gave his full support for this initiative, noting he was pleased the OCA is embracing and using technology to help to address the issue of abuse.

 

“I think it is important to encourage persons who are suffering from abuse to feel confident that they can share their stories and also that they can talk out about the issues that are affecting them,” he said.

 

Persons can join in the discussions through the Instagram and Twitter handle @readariastory, using #ariastoryOCA.

 

The Children’s Advocate said she is confident that Aria’s Story will serve to “channel the voice of change in communities across Jamaica in a fresh and relatable way”.

 

CAPTION: Children’s Advocate, Diahann Gordon Harrison (right), shares details of ‘Aria’s Story’ with High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica, His Excellency Sylvan Fabi, prior to the recent launch at the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) in downtown Kingston. The public-education campaign, which is an initiative of the OCA, is an online animated miniseries being rolled out across various social media platforms.

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says several areas of the education system are being fixed, and more schools are getting leaders equipped to move the institutions forward.

 

The Minister, who was delivering the keynote address at the start of a two-day International Conference organised by the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, in New Kingston, on February 21, said school leaders are being provided with the necessary skills to transform education.

 

“It is coming together, because we are making sure there is no excuse about the quality of leadership that we have in our schools,” he told the forum, which comprised school principals, and local, regional and international experts in education.

 

The Minister explained that the training that is provided by the College enables quality leadership in schools, and he expects that the educational performance and outcomes will soar at those institutions.

 

He appealed to the school leaders to set “high standards for every student and every school, in terms of leadership, management, and accountability”.

 

Held under the theme ‘Transforming Educational Leadership, Disrupting the Narratives’, the conference addressed the topics ‘Effective Principals’, ‘Leadership for 21st Century Learning’, and ‘Transformational Leadership Through International Voices’.

 

The NCEL was created to develop and support educational leaders who are able to create and sustain effective schools, thereby contributing to national development.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (right), engages Director of the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), Rosemary Campbell-Stephens, at the start of a two-day International Conference organised by the College, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, in New Kingston, on February 21.

JIS: More schools across the island are to benefit from the construction of 26 sanitation blocks this fiscal year.

 

A sum of $200 million has been set aside in the 2017/18 Estimates of Expenditure to carry out this activity under the School Sanitation Project.

 

The project aims to replace pit latrines with flush toilets in order to reduce the contamination of underground water and reduce the spread of diseases caused by faecal matter.

 

To date, under the project, sanitation blocks have been completed in 59 schools islandwide.

 

The project was started in January 2012, and, following further extensions, is slated to end in March 2018.

 

It is being implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), with money provided through the PetroCaribe Development Fund.