A Community Access Point (CAP) was officially opened at the Brixton Hill Primary and Infant School in Clarendon on Wednesday (January 19), which will benefit students at the institution and the wider community.

The CAP site, established by the Universal Service Fund (USF), is equipped with 20 computers, a projector with accompanying screen and mount, and desks and chairs.

Residents will be able to access internet service from their mobile phones or tablets.

Minister of Information and Member of Parliament for Clarendon North Central, the Hon. Robert Morgan, who addressed the official opening ceremony, hailed the establishment of the site as a major achievement for the school, the students, teachers, and the wider Brixton community.

He said that residents of the neighbouring area of Mocho will also benefit from the use of the facility.

Minister Morgan urged the students to make the most of their education.

“I recognise that the only reason I became the Minister of Information in the Office of the Prime Minister is because of my education. It was because I got an opportunity to go to school and I want that opportunity for every single child in this room, because the only way you are going to rise in the modern world is through education,” he said.

Chief Executive Officer of the USF, Daniel Dawes, in his remarks, said that the entity is on a mission to connect Jamaicans through the setting up of CAP sites and Wi-Fi hotspots.

He noted that more than 350 CAP sites have opened to date at schools, churches, and community centres across the island.

As it relates to the public Wi-Fi hotspots, Mr. Dawes noted that three such sites are being established per constituency.

For Clarendon, the hotspot locations are Stewarton District, Rock River and Mocho.

“As we move from east to west, we have outfitted more than 40 [communities] and I guarantee to you that before the end of this month, we will be [about] 100 and plus. We have committed to the Minister [Morgan] and to the Government and people of Jamaica, that by the end of this financial year, we would have outfitted 189 communities with free Wi-Fi,” he said.

 

Presented to:
Prime Minister the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP
by Professor the Honourable Orlando Patterson, OM, Chairman
JANUARY 2022.
Disclaimer: This is a working report and is not for citation without permission until
the final version is presented.

JETC Report_AbridgedVersion

With the resumption of face-to-face classes, the Westmoreland Health Department is appealing to school administrators and parents to be on the lookout for symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HMFD) among children.

The Health Department said that while there is no outbreak of the disease in the parish, there have been 12 reported cases of the viral illness across eight communities over the past two months.

Cases have been detected in Seaton Crescent, Farm Pen, Chantilly, Hudson Street, Meylers Avenue, and Top Road in Little London, and Georges Plain and Shrewsbury in Petersfield. The individuals were diagnosed at health centres across the parish.

In an interview with JIS News, Parish Health Promotion and Education Officer, Gerald Miller, said that the contagious viral illness is common in infants and children under five years old but can also be transmitted to older children and adults.

He explained that the disease spreads easily in childcare facilities due to frequent diaper changes, and because young children often put their hands in their mouths.

Mr. Miller said the health department is being proactive and has placed educational institutions on alert.

“We have been very proactive in alerting our parents, educational institutions and the principals and the development officers who work with the Early Childhood Commission to let them be aware of the presence of hand, foot and mouth in the parish… and we want our parents, guardians and teachers to be on the lookout,” he said.

Initial signs of the disease include fever, poor appetite, sore throat, and a feeling of malaise.

These symptoms generally last for one to two days before a blister-like rash appears on the hands, feet and in the mouth.

The rash initially emerges as small red spots, but then develops into blisters. The blisters may develop on the gums, inner cheeks, and tongue and patients may complain of mouth pain and a sore throat.

Young children tend to drool and avoid swallowing and may refuse to drink or eat because of the discomfort.

The Health Promotion and Education Officer further explained that measures used to reduce the spread of HFMD include the frequent washing of hands by both parents and children.

“The prevention methods are similar to what would have been practised to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). [These include] washing of hands with soap and water after using the toilet, after changing a diaper, before eating and preparing meals and after handling a sick person, and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands,” he outlined.

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Fayval Williams, says the new school term, which began on Monday (January 3), got off to a good start with lessons being delivered via online and face-to-face learning modalities.

She informed that the Easter term commenced with 608 schools opening for face-to-face classes. Of this number, 568 are primary, 10 infant and 30 secondary schools across all seven regions.

“There are still many schools that are in the online mode so we have 173 primary schools and 120 secondary schools that have engaged students using the online modality,” Mrs. Williams noted, while addressing a virtual post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday (January 5).

The Education Minister pointed out that so far, the majority of schools that are back in the face-to-face environment have reported no issues.

“There are … 23 schools that reported that students or teachers … called in to say that they have flu-like symptoms and were remaining at home,” she said.

She noted as well that one principal had tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) and is remaining at home, and in another instance, a teacher informed of being quarantined at home.

In terms of the turnout of pupils for face-to-face classes, Mrs. Williams said that full attendance is being reported in the smaller primary schools, while attendance in the larger schools is relatively low.

“But, again, these are early days in terms of school reopening and because schools are using the rotation approach and the staggered resumption, this is what we would expect. As the days go by, we’re expecting to see more and more of our students back into the face-to-face environment,” she said.

In the meantime, Mrs. Williams informed that despite the vaccination efforts, which saw over 200 vaccinations blitzes being conducted across secondary schools, only 32 per cent of the secondary cohort was vaccinated up to the end of December.

“We are still continuing vaccination efforts in our schools but … that 65 per cent target is something still to be worked towards. However, we have indicated that all students can come back into the face-to-face environment,” she said.

The Education Minister continues to advise Jamaicans to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“The truth of the matter is, we can end this pandemic. We know it’s within our reach to do so but we have to do those things that will cause it to end and one of those is to become vaccinated,” she stressed.

She further implored parents and adults, in general, to emulate students who have been adhering to the COVID-19 protocols.

“I think our children get it. When I see them in school and even outside of school … they get the mask wearing, they get the hand washing, they get the physical distancing. It is incumbent on us as adults and as parents to follow their lead to protect ourselves, to protect them and to get the vaccines,” she said.

The Education Minister pointed out that billions of people around the world have taken the vaccines and they remain strong and healthy.

School Reopening Meeting Schedule

 

The table below illustrates the dates and time for meetings scheduled by each Region with school principals.

 

Regions	Dates of Meetings
1	Dec 30, 2021 9 am- Infant and Primary schools; 12noon: secondary schools
2	Dec  29, 2021 11 am; secondary schools Dec 30 10 am primary and infant schools
3	Dec 30, 2021 Primary & infant and secondary
4	Dec 30, 2021  10 am: primary & infant schools; 12 noon secondary schools
5	Dec 30, 2021 11am : primary & infant, and secondary
6	Dec 30, 2021 9am primary and infant schools; 1 pm secondary principals
7	Dec 30, 2021 1pm: primary & infant, and secondary

 

Minister’s Meeting with the eCOVID Taskforce

 

December 30, 2021 @ 2pm

 

Minister’s Meetings with Board Chairmen and Principals

 

December 31, 2021:

 

9:30 to 10:30am – Board Chairmen for Infant, Primary and Secondary

Schools

 

11am to 1pm – Principals of Secondary Schools

 

2pm to 3:30pm – Principals of Infant and Primary Schools

At the end of enslavement, most Africans on plantations in the Caribbean and North and South America were illiterate. Europeans used slave codes to make it a criminal offence for Africans to acquire this skill. This ensured that Africans would be psycho-socially crippled and dependent on Europeans for self and social definition.

In this way, education was weaponised as a tool of domination and exclusion. The legacies of a racialised education system plus insufficient access for those most in need are enduring problems. Advocates for a decolonised education system have long been struggling to remove such barriers to success. People like Dr Anna Julia Heywood Cooper ( A Voice from the South); Dr Carter. G. Woodson ( The Mis-Education of the Negro); and our own Marcus Garvey ( The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey) are among stellar educators who designed charters for emancipation from mental slavery as alternative methods for intellectual progress for the African majority class.

Although education is a gateway to upward social mobility, Jamaica remains mired in a Eurocentric approach to the form and content of the pedagogical product. This is a challenge to the crafting of frameworks or learning that facilitate self-realisation and cohesive national development. Case in point is the Government of Jamaica’s (GoJ’s) clumsy communication of an immediate shift to an apparently mandatory seven-year high school schedule. A sensitive leadership would invest more effort and time in persuading the beneficiaries of the reasonableness of taking this pathway (to use the unfortunate brand) at this time.

INSENSITIVE

The choice to use the traditional top-down approach to dictate to a digitised generation of students is insensitive of the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s (CRC’s) stipulation that children must know about decisions that affect their lives. This fundamental right is in recognition that even if caregivers inside and outside of the household are acting in the best interests of their wards, they are obliged to consult said children and ensure that their participation in the decision-making process is facilitated and encouraged.

That consultation approach was missing from the recent Nicodemus policy, which stipulates that fifth-form graduation ceremonies would be cancelled this year to make way for the onset of a mandatory seven-year high-school engagement model. The government announcement appeared as another top-down decision, which was unplanned and ideologically unconvincing. Some students erupted in consternation as their exit strategies from high school do not mandate attendance at sixth-form level.

At first byte, the news sounded as if it would now be compulsory for students to attend school for seven and not five years. On second read, however, this news is not that novel. It is a conversation that has been flagged for some time in recognition of the reality that more and more students are graduating into a sterile socio-economic environment. The paucity of “work” in the public space has prompted the GOJ in the past to promote initiatives to protect children from the hostile public-sector environment for as long as possible. Delaying students’ entry into the world of work acknowledges that the employment environment is hostile to school leavers not only from high school , but also tertiary institutions.

Beyond paucity of employment on the job market, many students are not work-ready when they opt to leave at the end of fifth form (grade 11). The two years spent at sixth- form level (grades 12-13) are designed to build out personal development potential, improve work eligibility and qualifications, and hone young intellects for tertiary-level advancement. For those who accept the option of the seven-year model, achieving an associate Degree at the end of the period is a good thing even if the packaging of this prize is problematic.

All these intentions are all very well and good. But it was the timing and style of the announcement that galled those who railed and are still protesting. Their angst has to do with the fact that the matriculation requirements have not changed for tertiary institutions like teachers’ colleges, the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Northern Caribbean University, and come to think of it, also The University of the West Indies (The UWI), which admits part-time entrants on the strength of Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) passes. CXC conventions have also not been changed in other Caribbean countries. This decision to suddenly remodel the school-leaving arrangement could be seen as what Dr Eric Williams meant when he called Jamaica’s pulling out of the Caribbean Federation a case of 1 from 10 leaves Zero.

WHITE ELEPHANT POLITICS

The GoJ’s Sixth Form Pathways Programme is based on the 11-year old Career Advancement Programme (CAP), the high-rolling post-secondary school-enhancement model, which offered 40,000 CAPE students subsidised education opportunities, and some 63,000 students were enabled to resit CSEC subjects like mathematics and English; improve personal development and technical skills, and bolster success possibilities at the tertiary level.

This was initiated in 2010, and just over a decade later, this well-meaning white elephant is being hailed as the baseline for the normalisation of this approach. What were the CAP outcomes? What are the success stories? Where is the Tracer Study to countervail the claim that the certification did not translate to job and schooling successes? What value did the investment of over eight hundred million dollars have on young people’s ability to get jobs or enrol in tertiary institutions? Will that substantial material support be replicated in the new normal of an extended school schedule as happened with the CAP experiment?

Concerns about form and content of school engagement are more relevant now than ever as the nation hovers in the twilight zone between remote and face-to face options. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the disruption of school engagement for 600,000 students, 25,000 educators and numerous parents, service providers, and other significant dependants on the system (see https://www.capricaribbean.org/discussion/effects-covid-19-education-sector).

The jury is still out on the number of children who have disappeared from the system due to lack of access to hardware and connectivity and their inability to pivot to meet the unprecedented demands of the new mechanisms of pedagogical engagement. It is a time for the carrot not the stick.

 

– Dr Imani Tafari-Ama is a research fellow at The Institute for Gender and Development Studies, Regional Coordinating Office (IGDS-RCO), at The University of the West Indies. She is the author of ‘Blood, Bullets and Bodies: Sexual Politics Below Jamaica’s Poverty Line’ and ‘Up for Air: This Half Has Never Been Told’, a historical novel on the Tivoli Gardens incursion. Send feedback to [email protected].

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Robert Nesta Morgan, says the Government is exploring how it can improve the salaries of early-childhood practitioners on the island.

Addressing the handover ceremony of the Bethlehem Moravian College Early Childhood Centre of Excellence in Malvern, St. Elizabeth, on December 6, the State Minister said the Government is also seriously considering “how we can make more infant schools that are fully funded by the Government, where teachers are now a part of the Ministry of Education salary scale, paid for by the Government”.

“The Government recognises the importance of the early-childhood sector as a foundation for growth within the society, which then logically means that the Government must play a more interventionist role in the sector,” Mr. Morgan said.

“What [this] means is that we must start merging schools and create infant departments. Let’s say you have five basic schools that have 10 children each, you can now have an infant school with 50, and you can give the teachers who were at these basic schools the training, so that they can go to NCTVET and they can get certified or they can get their relevant [Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate] or if they wish, they can go to the bachelor’s degree, which I suspect, Bethlehem is very willing to accommodate them,” he added.

The early-childhood institution is located on the property of the college and was constructed by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund, at a cost of $40.3 million.

The school will serve as a training facility for student teachers at the college who are specialising in early-childhood education.

Mr. Morgan  noted that the 160-year-old institution has continuously contributed to national development since its inception.

“I think it is fitting that the CHASE Fund and the Government chose to put this institution here, at an institution that has stability, and that has demonstrated excellence over the years,” the State Minister said.

Mr. Morgan also thanked the CHASE Fund for funding the construction of the building and underscored the importance of early-childhood education.

For his part, Chief Executive Officer of the CHASE Fund, Billy Heaven, said the  state-of-the-art facility will “allow for best practice in the delivery of early-childhood education”.

Mr. Heaven added that early-childhood education is too important to be left to chance.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Board of Management at the Bethlehem Moravian College, Lowel G. Morgan, said that “against the background of the fallout in education gains globally, this building is a symbol of hope”.

“Hope not just for our institution in terms of an enhancement in our physical plant but hope in  relation to what we can accomplish,” he added.

The new facility features three classrooms, bathrooms, office, kitchen, dining area and a demonstration room.

Parents are welcoming the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Information’s Sixth-Form Pathways Programme as a practical approach that caters to all students regardless of their academic performance.

The Sixth-Form Pathways is part of the Ministry’s implementation of a seven-year high-school programme. It allows for students who complete grade 11 to enrol in the programme and pursue a two-year course of study with alternative opportunities alongside the traditional sixth-form curriculum.

For those who choose not to attend a tertiary institution, the certification they receive at the end of the Sixth-Form Pathways Programme will prepare them to enter various fields of work or receive further general or technical training.

In an interview with JIS News, retired teacher and father of one, Kenrick Thorpe, commended the initiative as a “good programme”.

“From my understanding, it caters for those who are academically inclined and for those who are not. Those who are not academically inclined will do [skills training], which is very good.” Mr. Thorpe said.

“I think it’s a good programme and I know if it is carried out as planned by the Ministry, pupils will benefit from it,” he noted.

St. James resident and mother of two, Gloria Brown, told JIS News, “I think it’s a very good idea, but [I think] the [cost] for the kids [to attend school] needs to be subsidised for the two [additional] years”.

Fifty Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students from three tertiary institutions have been awarded scholarships valued at just over $26.6 million, by liquefied natural gas company New Fortress Energy.

The students hail from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, the University of Technology (UTech) and the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMU).

The scholarships were presented at a ceremony held at the UWI on December 1.

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Fayval Williams, in her address said the Ministry will continue to encourage the integration of technology at all academic levels.

“We welcome this important support for education in general, but for STEM education, in particular. We have been making Jamaicans more aware of what it is. The national curriculum that we have in our primary schools all the way through high school is STEM-based and I’m happy to see that at the tertiary level, you are pushing this,” she said.

In the meantime, Principal of  UWI,  Mona,  Professor Dale Webber, argued that investing in the STEM fields forms part of the university’s mission, which is to inform and increase Caribbean development.

“Several decades ago, we decided we would invest in STEM and we’ve continued to do so, especially as we recognise the need for us to grow as a country and as a region. The human resource to support this is what’s important and you the students are the human resource to make this happen. We have [also] found that partnerships with our public and private-sector entities make all the difference,” he said.

Since 2016, New Fortress Energy has awarded more than $65 million in tertiary scholarships. Additionally, more than 3,700 primary and high schools benefited from financial aid, bursaries,  tablets, laptops and school supplies.