Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams (left) and Chairman of Jamaica Day, Marlon Williams, are presented with copies of a book authored by Pat Chin, entitled ‘Miss Pat- My Reggae Music Journey’, and a doll dressed in the Jamaicans colours by proprietor of Island Dolls Beverly Robotham. The representation was made at the Ministry in Kingston on Tuesday (February 22). Ms. Robotham also presented a letter of undertaking to donate five per cent of all doll sales for this year towards the purchase of tablets for students, under the ‘Own Your Own Device’ initiative.

Students at Holland Primary School in St. Elizabeth participating in the morning’s devotional exercise while observing Jamaica Day 2022 on Friday, February 25, under the theme, “Celebrate Jamaica: Building Character – Hearts Through the Arts.”

The Jamaica Teaching Council Bill and Regulations for the Road Traffic Act were tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (February 1)

Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, tabled the teaching council legislation, which seeks to establish a governing body for the teaching profession and a licensing and registration regime for all government-paid teachers.

The Bill will also establish and maintain professional standards for teacher competence and practice; regulate the professional conduct of teachers to ensure, in the public interest, that they are fit and proper persons to teach; and create an enabling environment for the continuing professional development of teachers.

Meanwhile, the Regulations for the Road Traffic Act makes provisions to better apply the principles and purposes of the new Road Traffic Act, which was passed in the House of Representatives in 2018.

Covered are areas such as fitness, registration and licensing of motor vehicles; construction of and equipment for motor vehicles; licensing of drivers; certification of driving instructors and licensing of driving schools; and traffic signs, speed limits and rules of the road.

Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon. Audley Shaw, tabled the Regulations.

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].