Talented young persons, aged 15 to 29, will have up to December 10 to submit their creative written, artistic or video entries for the National Youth Policy Creative Competition Challenge.

The competition, which is being staged by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, is part of a slate of activities for National Youth Month being observed in November.

The contest offers Jamaica’s youth the opportunity to express why at least one of the six National Youth Policy goals is important to the youth and their responsibility in supporting the Government in fulfilling the policy’s intended goals.

Speaking at the virtual launch of the competition on Monday (November 1), Policy Analyst at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Davey Haughton, said it is part of a broader thrust to increase public education on the revised National Youth Policy’s intended outcome.

“The submissions in written form can be a short essay, no more than 500 words, or a poem. The submissions in video form… do a short film, do a vine video… or even an animation. If you are making entries in the artistic form… you may do anything ranging from a photograph, a painting, a canvas, a sculpture,” he said.

There will be six grand prizes across the six policy goals and priority areas. There will be six runners-up as well as third-place prizes.

Mr. Haughton informed that at the end of the submission period, entries will be shortlisted and posted on @youthjamaica social media pages for the public to like and reshare their favourite creative entries until January 28, 2022. The entrants will also be tagged in the posts.

Posts across all platforms with the most likes, shares/retweets on or before midnight on Friday (January 28) 2022, will win.

The winning creative pieces will be featured on the Youth Innovation Centre’s website, social media, print material, and other mediums. Winners will also receive tablets.

Persons may visit the www.youthjamaica.com website to apply or to get more information on the competition, as well as the Ministry of Education’s social media pages for further details.

The National Youth Policy outlines the following goals and priorities:

1.  Education and Training: Improve access to quality secondary, tertiary education, and vocational training opportunities.
2. Health and Well-Being: Increase access to sexual, reproductive, and mental healthcare services among youth cohort.
3. Employment and Entrepreneurship: Increase the percentage of youth who have access to decent employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.
4. Youth Participation: Maximise youth participation in national and political decision-making processes.
5. Social Inclusion and Re-integration: Minimise the number of at-risk and vulnerable youth.
6. Institutional and Youth Sector Arrangements: Professionalised and strengthened youth sector.

Minister of Education, Youth, and Information, Hon. Fayval Williams,` says the Ministry will be engaging specialist teachers under the National School Learning and Intervention Plan (NSLIP) to improve academic readiness.

“[This is] to address the performance gaps, especially in the areas of numeracy and literacy, augmented by our specialist teacher model to address the foundational principles and improve [the] readiness of our students to pursue the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) syllabi,” she said.

A total of 158 primary schools and 72 secondary schools are expected to benefit from the intervention.

“Currently, we have assigned a team of 83 persons –. 50 primary math coaches, 19 secondary math coaches and 14 math specialists, who will continue to provide support remotely and physically,” she said.

Minister Williams was speaking at a virtual press briefing held today (October 19), where she shared the preliminary results of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).

She said that despite the challenges of the pandemic, students performed satisfactorily for all subject areas except mathematics.

“In mathematics, the subject with the greatest weakness, 38.2 per cent of students had passes of Grades One, Two and Three in 2021 compared with 61.2 per cent in 2020 [and] 54.6 per cent in 2019,” she disclosed.

She said that interventions, such as the NSLIP, will help in the “recovery that is needed in the knowledge base of our children”.

“We have high hurdles to clear this academic year, but we are working to ensure that our students are not stymied in the pursuit of their education and career goals,” she said.

The NSLIP is aimed at helping students to recover from learning loss due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

It includes interventions over the summer period and during the academic year.

The Grateful Hill Primary School in St. Catherine has 40 tablet computers and $200,000 worth of bursaries for needy students, compliments of past student Unique Gray.

Gray who is the principal behind Drive Unique, a car-rental entity, said she saw on social media that the school was on a drive to get tablets for students in need and decided to help. Thereafter, she discovered that there was also a need for monetary support for students.

“It is a great feeling because of how the kids looked when they got them,” Miss Gray said while speaking in an interview with JIS News, adding that “we will be in touch with the school, and whatever need exists we will help them as best as possible,” she added.

Principal of the school, George Moodie, said the tablet drive has picked up pace, as two other past students have contributed eight of the devices. “They are coming on board to ensure that the Grateful Hill Primary School is with tablets, so that the students can access quality education,” Mr. Moodie said.

He also reported that 97 per cent of his students have been placed in traditional high schools from the recent Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations. He said the teachers at the institutions, especially those for grade six, “fought the odds” to reach students during the pandemic, and their efforts along with parents and other stakeholders have helped the school to move from 95 per cent to 97 per cent passes during the last sitting of the exams.

“Our continuous climbing on the educational ladder, and with the involvement of our past students, we are now on a rebranding phase of the institution to take the students to another level of education,” he said.

While arguing that the school is a family-based institution, Mr. Moodie said they use a motto to motivate students, instilling in them that “I am good as any, better that many, and second to none.” The school has 340 students, 14 teachers, and three caregivers.

 

The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) has donated 60 tablets valued at $1.2 million to two primary schools in St. James and St. Andrew.

The institutions are Farm Primary and Infant in Green Pond and Edward Seaga Primary in Denham Town, which were presented with 30 tablets each on September 8 and September 9, respectively.

Director of Internal Affairs at the JCA and Chairperson of the Agency’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee, Tameka Goulbourne, told JIS News that the funds used to purchase the devices came from personal donations by employees.

The devices were purchased according to specifications given by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

Ms. Goulbourne said that the CSR Committee focuses its efforts in and around communities where the JCA’s offices are located.

“We have community locations in Montego Bay and our head office and other Customs locations are not very far from Edward Seaga Primary, so we engage the schools that are within our reach, within our own communities, to see how best we can assist them,” she said.

Noting the genesis of the CSR programme, Ms. Goulbourne said “we wanted to have a greater impact on our stakeholders beyond our current mandate, especially with everything that has been going on. We are experiencing unprecedented times, so we made the decision to establish a programme with this in mind”.

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Fayval Williams, says she is pleased that the Ministry has been able to significantly reduce the digital divide in the sector through the implementation of several initiatives aimed at providing more students with electronic devices.

“There are many more students with devices now at the start of this school year than there were the last school year because [of] the significant efforts that we made with the ‘One Laptop per Child’ initiative, the ‘Own Your Own Device’ and the government procurement of devices,” she said in a recent interview with JIS News.

Designed to promote inclusivity in the education sector, the One Laptop per Child initiative and the Own Your Own Device incentive programme, which were launched last year, seek to facilitate students’ continued education remotely, due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The One Laptop per Child  initiative provides devices for needy students, including those with special needs, students in State care/homes as well as those who are not beneficiaries of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), while the Own Your Own Device provides the guardians or parents of needy students with a $20,000 gift voucher to be used towards the purchase of an electronic device.

In the meantime, Minister Williams said she is pleased with the smooth start to the new school year, which she said, was facilitated by the increased number of children who now have access to electronic devices.

“From the early checks of the system and throughout the day, we did not detect any issues. In fact, people were saying the start of this school year virtually is much better that it was last year,” she noted.

The first week of the new school year is being conducted remotely given the rise in COVID-19 cases. The Minister is hoping that students will be back to the face-to-face mode as quickly as possible.

“In the education sector, we have our dreams, we have our expectations. We have said we would love for our high-school students to be able to go back [to face-to-face] in October, but again, we are guided by the Ministry of Health and Wellness. So, we have to take our lead from them in terms of the timing of this, but we are geared up and ready to go back as soon as possible,” she said.

Lessons are being delivered online, via printed learning packages or kits and through the audio/visual (television and radio) platforms.

Prime Minister the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, is again urging all eligible Jamaicans to take the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, noting that most of the infected persons now hospitalised are unvaccinated.

“The unquestioned fact is that 99 per cent of those persons who are occupying those 700 beds …in hospitals, were not vaccinated,” he noted.

Mr. Holness said the science suggests that the risk of an adverse or fatal outcome from COVID-19 infection is “very low” for persons who are inoculated.

As such, the Prime Minister urges influential persons, such as entertainers and church leaders, to encourage more Jamaicans to take the vaccine.

He made the appeal during Thursday’s (August 19) virtual press conference, where he outlined new COVID-19 containment measures.

Mr. Holness said the Government now has sufficient doses to inoculate a significant number of persons, and established measures to replenish the stock of vaccines.

He noted, however, that hesitancy and reluctance were hindering a number of persons from getting vaccinated.

“I am [however] confident that for those persons who are skeptical, who are unsure but reasonable minded, that our reasoning with them will work,” the Prime Minister said.

Some of the revised COVID-19 containment measures include: no movement days on Sunday, August 22; Monday, August 23; Tuesday, August 24; Sunday, August 29; Monday, August 30; Tuesday, August 31; and Sunday, September 5.

Additionally, no funeral services will be permitted between August 25 and September 7, while only 15 persons, including officiating clergy, gravediggers, and undertakers, will be allowed to attend burials over the period.

Meanwhile, no more than 20 persons will be permitted to physically attend weddings.

Chief Executive Officer, Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Rosalee Gage-Grey is encouraging parents and guardians to utilise play therapy as a means of promoting mental wellness in children.

She said that there has been an uptick in demand for therapeutic services for children, particularly since the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has disrupted their way of life and has forced children to reduce contact with their peers.

“To reduce the impact of the pandemic, play is absolutely critical. We encourage parents to find creative ways to play. Play can be facilitated indoors and outdoors.

It improves the child’s concentration, builds resilience, promotes positive feelings, social competence and desirable behaviours. Play promotes factors that support good mental health and it is important to children’s overall well-being,” she said.

Mrs. Gage-Grey was speaking at a virtual Child and Adolescent Mental Health Awareness Day round table on May 27, organised by the Nathan Ebanks Foundation.

The event, held under the theme ‘The Power of Play: Helping Children Cope in the COVID-19 Era’ was aimed at providing information and resources to help young people cope during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mrs. Gage-Gray said that good mental health “is necessary for our overall health and has become even more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not only negatively impacted adults but also our children. Oftentimes, our children with mental health issues feel as if they have nowhere to turn”.

She noted that the issue is further compounded by the existing stigma associated with mental health, which discourages parents from seeking help for their children.

The CPFSA Head urged parents to seek help from social agencies mandated to provide assistance to children and adolescents.

For assistance, persons can contact the following support agencies:

Custos of St. James, Bishop the Hon. Conrad Pitkin, has joined the call for parents to be more vigilant in monitoring their children’s online activity in order to protect them from cyber predators.

“It is important that you understand that there are predators out there… and it doesn’t matter whether you are a boy or girl. So we advise parents to make sure that they monitor and supervise their children during (online) class time,” he said.

Bishop Pitkin was addressing a ceremony at Bogue Hill Primary and Infant School in the parish on Friday (June 4), where he handed over 14 tablets and tablet cases for students.

Funds to procure the devices were contributed by staff of National Pen Jamaica Limited, through activities initiated by Operations Manager at the company and Justice of the Peace (JP) in the parish, Natalie Smellie-Sinclair.

Seven students were on hand to collect their tablets, while the other seven were given to the principal for disbursement.

In his remarks to the students, Bishop Pitkin advised them to utilise the devices for educational purposes only.

“It is not for games unless it is an educational game. It is not to go on [social networks] that students tend to go on. They pretend to be in school or at class and when you check it out they are on some other app,” he noted.

Bishop Pitkin also encouraged the students to take their education seriously, as it will open the doors to a bright future.

“I believe that education is important for our nation’s children. The only way that you can move from poverty to prosperity or to become self-sufficient is to have a skill or a profession and that’s what coming to school or staying in the virtual classroom is all about,” he said.

The Custos also commended Principal of the school, Lorna Crooks, for her sterling leadership of the institution over the years.

Mrs. Crooks told JIS News that the donation was timely, noting that the devices will “greatly benefit” the students.

“I am certain that the students appreciate that now they can access [their] classes on Google Classroom. I am really happy today that more of them can be online,” she said.

Meanwhile, Grade Six student at the school, Jonathan Smart, told JIS News that he was grateful to receive a tablet.

“I feel very good about it. A lot of children will be thankful at the school,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Smellie-Sinclair, who solicited the financial contributions for the devices, expressed appreciation to her co-workers, who responded to the call for support.

She said that the funds raised were handed over to the Office of the Custos through which the tablets were procured.