JIS: State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, is calling for increased partnerships for the upgrading of the country’s early-childhood institutions.

 

“Since we all know that if we don’t get it right at the start we will have to play catch-up, shouldn’t we be coalescing and getting partnership, resources at the earliest stage?,” he asked.

 

“In fact, if we are going to look at cutting-edge institutions, shouldn’t it be that when we walk into our infant schools, we feel that we have been teleported into the First World?” he noted.

 

Mr. Green was addressing a ceremony for the official handover of the upgraded Middlesex Infant School in Holland, St. Elizabeth, on Wednesday (September 26).

 

The project, undertaken by J. Wray & Nephew (JWN) Foundation at a cost of $30 million, has transformed the institution into a state-of-the-art facility, creating a more comfortable and spacious teaching and learning environment.

 

It boasts a multipurpose parenting zone, a bio-based courtyard, play area, sickbay, auditorium, vegetable garden, new restrooms, an equipped computer laboratory and expanded classroom blocks.

 

The multipurpose parenting zone will also serve as a skills training centre for parents.

 

The expansion will result in the infant school, which accommodates some 53 students, gaining certification from the Early Childhood Commission (ECC).

 

Mr. Green commended JWN for undertaking the project. He said that quality education must be made available to every child regardless of their socio-economic background, and to achieve this, early-childhood spaces need to be transformed and modernised.

 

“The reality is, only education works; only that is sustainable, and I can speak passionately about it, as it is especially true for rural Jamaica. Our mission must be to ensure that no matter where you are born in Jamaica, no matter your income or social class, you have access to quality education, and the only way we can do that, quite frankly, is through partnership,” he added.

 

Chairman of the JWN Foundation, Clement “Jimmy’ Lawrence, said the organisation is proud of the investment, which he noted, will offer a “strong foundation in early-childhood development”.

 

He said Middlesex Infant School is now a “world-class facility” that will create “new realities for the students”.

 

“This facility is world class not because of a significant capital investment of $30 million. It is world class because of the dreams it will help to craft and the confidence and positive influence it will inculcate in the children under its care,” he said.

 

Middlesex Infant School Board chairman, Andrew Morris, expressed gratitude to JWN Foundation and assured that all will be done to maintain the facilities provided.

 

The renovation was carried out over eight weeks in July and August this year.

 

CAPTION: The newly renovated Middlesex Infant School in Holland Bamboo, St. Elizabeth, which was officially handed over to school administrators, at a ceremony on Wednesday (September 26). The school was upgraded by J Wray & Nephew Foundation at a cost of $30 million.

JIS: Teachers must customise lessons to meet the individual needs and learning styles of students, says Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid.

 

“Our children have different learning styles. Not all our children will achieve the same level of performance at the same time… so within our classes, we must have diversity,” he noted.

 

“As that master teacher, you are still required to find out how you are going to try to be very prescriptive, having done the diagnosis to understand what the learning styles are, the levels of strength and weaknesses of our students in our classes, and how we are going to customise (lessons) to reach every learner,” he added.

 

Minister Reid was speaking at a sensitisation session with primary-school teachers at the West Jamaica Conference Centre in Montego Bay, St. James, on Tuesday (September 25).

 

He told the teachers that the Ministry will ensure that all primary schools have Internet connection in order for them to access educational resources.

 

“Ideally, I want your schools to be ‘A’ schools. I want that, with the click of a button, you can get almost anything you want. As soon as possible, every one of our primary schools should be adequately enabled in terms of the Internet, [and] have school management systems to capture all student data, reports, and lesson plans that can be sent to your heads of departments in soft copy,” he said.

 

The session gave teachers from western Jamaica an opportunity to be updated about recent developments in the education system, particularly the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, addresses a teacher sensitisation and consultation session at the West Jamaica Conference Centre in Montego Bay, St. James, on Tuesday (September 25).

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says the national school feeding programme is progressing satisfactorily.

 

Speaking at today’s (September 26) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, the Minister informed that the Government has provided a substantial amount of resources to the programme.

 

“When the Government came into power (in 2016), one of the first things that we did was to increase the school-feeding budget by 47 per cent, so we are now up to $4.7 billion for the allocation for the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH),” he said.

 

Senator Reid pointed out that, so far, 98 per cent of schools have their own canteens.

 

He also disclosed that the Government is paying approximately 1,007 cooks to ensure that students are provided with “cooked, very balanced and nutritious meals, rather than relying on baked products coming out of Nutrition Products Limited (NPL)”.

 

The Minister said that for the schools without their own canteens, the Ministry is now seeking to ensure that NPL provides support for them.

 

Senator Reid said as far as the Ministry is concerned, the programme is moving in the right direction and urged school administrators to communicate with regional offices to update the Ministry on issues that may arise.

 

“We say to schools that they need to ensure they communicate with their regional offices on a very timely basis, because each year we require the schools to indicate the enrolment and the students who are on PATH, as we only allocate resources based on their registered and verified persons,” he added.

 

The Government, through the Ministry of Education, has been working to expand the scope of the programme, by increasing the number of products that are provided.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, addresses today’s (September 26) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information’s Safety and Security Programme (SSP) is taking a more holistic approach in treating with children who are displaying antisocial behaviour in schools.

 

Through the School-wide Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support (SWPBIS) model, focus is placed on prevention and early intervention strategies in dealing with the social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties experienced by some students.

 

Addressing a recent JIS Think Tank, Director of the Safety and Security Unit in the Ministry, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Coleridge Minto, said that under the SWPBIS model, “an entire-school approach” is taken in addressing discipline. “Rather than training the guidance counsellors, the deans of discipline and principals, we train the entire school in how to administer discipline in a positive way; even the ancillary staff,” he said.

 

Other aspects of the model involve in-school suspension, as against sending students home for several days. While at school, they benefit from behaviour-modification programmes through the Dispute Resolution Foundation (DRF), the cadet corps or other groups.

 

Time-out facilities have also been introduced to provide interventions that cannot be done in the regular school environment.

 

Two facilities were set up at the start of the 2018/19 academic year in September, with another 11 to be established in January 2019.

 

ASP Minto explained that students are placed in a programme where they are closely monitored. The intervention is crafted to meet the needs of the individual student, and when they are rehabilitated they are placed back into the regular school system.

 

He disclosed that researchers have pointed out that 80 per cent of students are well behaved, while 15 per cent have slight behavioural problems and five per cent are engaged in deviant and antisocial behaviour.

 

This finding is supported by data in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

 

CAPTION: Director of the Safety and Security Unit in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Coleridge Minto, addressing a recent JIS Think Tank.

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says educational leaders must be able to prudently manage private and public financial resources, in order to increase efficiencies and reduce wastage.

 

“As leaders in education, we have to ensure that we are familiar with the latest financial information and strategies to help us remain good stewards of public and private resources,” he said.

 

The Minister was addressing a public education and information-sharing webinar, organised by the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), at the University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters in St. Andrew on Monday (September 24).

 

He noted that proper management of financial and other resources has become even more important as the Government has been increasing its allocation to the education system over the last two years and intends to further increase this support.

 

The Minister said he welcomed the NCEL’s webinar, which is equipping education stakeholders with critical information to make them do a better job.

 

“When our leaders in education are better at their jobs, there is, in fact, a ripple effect on the wider economy, which translates into further needed improvements in economic growth and job creation, lifting more of our brothers and sisters out of poverty into prosperity,” he said.

 

During the session, Executive Director, Economic Growth Council, Senator Aubyn Hill, presented on the topic ‘Effective Financial Leadership: The Platform for Economic Growth and Personal Development’.

 

This was the seventh in the series of webinars, aimed at imparting knowledge and skills to a wide range of leaders across the educational landscape.

 

They focus on the principles, processes and practices of leading and the way leadership development is conceived, conducted and evaluated.

 

The sessions seek to explore, analyse and evaluate potential solutions to problems of practice, especially with respect to financial leadership.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (at podium), addresses a public education and information-sharing webinar, hosted by the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters in St. Andrew on Monday (September 24).

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has announced that a new website will be launched for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination.

 

Speaking at the Rotary Club of Kingston East and Port Royal meeting on Monday (September 24) at the Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa in St. Andrew, the Minister said the website will have PEP material for everybody – teachers, parents and students.

 

He noted that hard copies of the online PEP material will also be made available, given that children have different learning styles and some prefer hard-copy documents.

 

The Minister also reiterated that the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) textbooks can still be used in preparation for PEP.

 

“We have said that the GSAT textbooks are quite fine for the content. I’m saying for clarity, yes, the items have changed, but you can use the workbook for reinforcement of the knowledge, but understand that we are asking for more, not just to be able to indicate and say the answer is A, B, C, D… but to write out your answers, show your working and explain the reason for your answer,” Senator Reid said.

 

“What PEP is going to do is provide the prism to get all our people to be trained at a high level. There is really no magic to it. It is a fundamental shift, and it’s not a shift that Jamaicans cannot manage,” he argued.

 

PEP is the series of tests which has replaced GSAT as the national secondary-school entrance examination. It is intended to provide a better and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education. It comprises a Performance Task Test, Ability Task Test and a Curriculum-Based Test.

 

After his presentation, the Minister handed out bursaries on behalf of the Rotary Club of Kingston East and Port Royal to eight students.

 

They are Vanessa Blissett from the Girls’ Brigade, Tajay Bailey from the Boys’ Brigade, Shanari Cameron from the Caribbean Maritime University, Jamoy Gordon from Port Royal Primary School, Alycia Rowe from Alpha Interact Club; Toni-Ann Marsden from Windward Road Primary School; Jevaughn Wint from the Scouts Association of Jamaica, and Sharick Smythe from Harbour View Primary School.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (right), in discussion with President, Rotary Club of Kingston East and Port Royal, Carey Crooks, during the Club’s meeting on Monday (September 24), at Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa, in St. Andrew.

JIS: State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, has hailed the work of Youths for Excellence Limited in assisting students to reach their highest potential.

 

“I found it important that young people had come together to form this organisation, and I was further impressed that the sphere in which they decided to give back is education.

 

“There is nothing that has a more transformative power than education… . I think it takes a special ilk to recognise that an investment in the next generation is the best investment to make right now,” he added.

 

Mr. Green was speaking at the organisation sponsors’ appreciation banquet held on September 20 at the Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Andrew.

 

Founded three-years ago by Je?nine Shepherd when she was just 17 years of age, Youths for Excellence Limited is a non-profit organisation that tutors children aged 11 to 13, primarily in inner-city communities, and provides them with free health checks, school supplies and food.

 

He challenged more young persons to find creative ways to address social ills.

 

“Across our society, there are a lot of needs and a lot of areas that you can decide are important and as young people you can coalesce around. More of our young people, even without resources of their own, can come up with ideas that can spark interest that can create change. The fact that this organisation was founded by young persons signifies that it is time for (youth) to take charge of our country in a real way,” he said.

 

“You have shown what young people can do when they mobilise and organise. I see this as an opportunity to say to our youth, let us come together and form organisations around the things we are passionate about,” he added.

 

Mr. Green also commended the Youths for Excellence sponsors for their generosity and for “taking a leap of faith” in providing financial assistance to young persons volunteering their time and effort for a worthy cause.

 

Meanwhile, Ms. Shepherd, now 20 years of age, and a Neuroscience and Economics major at Amherst College in Massachusetts, said when she started Youths for Excellence the intention was to do some tutoring in the summer.

 

She said she soon learned that the initiative required a holistic approach as the students required the proper nutrition and materials to absorb the information they were being taught.

 

She expressed her gratitude to the sponsors for enabling the organisation to reach students in need.

 

“Tutoring the children is one thing, but ensuring that my efforts are effective and that the students benefit from what my team and I try to do, is another thing. You can try to drill information into a student’s head, but it is pointless if they are hungry or in poor health or simply have nothing to use as study materials,” she shared.

 

Sponsors included Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Restaurants of Jamaica Limited, Logo Stitch Manufacturing Limited, Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) Limited, GraceKennedy Group, RJRGleaner Communications Group and Gorgeous Flowers Jamaica.

 

Youths for Excellence Limited has assisted over 250 students attending Cockburn Gardens Primary and Junior High, and Franklin Town and Pembroke Hall Primary schools.

 

CAPTION: State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green (right), receives a painting as a token of appreciation from Founder and Principal Director of non- profit organisation, Youths for Excellence Limited, Je?nine Shepherd. Occasion was a sponsors’ appreciation banquet hosted by the entity on September 20 at the Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Andrew. Youths for Excellence Limited is a non- profit organisation that tutors children aged 11 to 13, primarily in inner-city communities, and provides them with free health check-ups, school supplies and food.

JIS: Parents of students sitting the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) are being assured that enough materials will be provided to adequately prepare students for the upcoming examination.

 

Speaking at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Portmore at the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF) headquarters on Ruthven Road in Kingston on September 19, Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, said sample items and practice materials are to be made available to the education system and will be accessible free of cost.

 

“We’re going to also have these practice materials online (on) an exclusive website. All materials necessary for assisting in preparing our students, as well as teachers to deliver the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) and PEP, are going to be made available to the society,” he pointed out.

 

The NSC aims to enhance the quality of education offered to learners and improve the general academic performance, attitude and behaviour of students, which will redound to the positive shaping of the national, social and economic fabric.

 

The curriculum, which is learner-centred and emphasises problem-solving skills, will help to realise the mantra of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information that ‘every child can learn… every child must learn’.

 

Addressing the concerns of some parents who had purchased workbooks designed for the obsolete Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), the Minister insisted that students will have “limited preparation in utilising those books for PEP”.

 

He urged parents not to panic, as the Ministry will “provide the core curriculum texts for the (primary school) system”.

 

Senator Reid said he has instructed the Chief Education Officer, Dr. Grace McLean, to investigate “how wrong information might have gotten out there”.

 

“I got one particular complaint from a primary school where it has been alleged that a secretary sent out the wrong information. However, this is an isolated incident and not general. I want parents and the parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to be vigilant to ensure that schools are conforming to the Ministry’s directives,” he said.

 

The PEP replaces the GSAT as the national secondary-school entrance test and is intended to provide a better and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education.

 

It comprises a Performance Task, Ability Test and a Curriculum-based Test. Students who entered grade six in September 2018 will comprise the first PEP cohort.

 

The Education Ministry has been training teachers for implementation of the examination.

 

CAPTION: Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left), presents a copy of the National Standard Curriculum and materials of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) to Naggo Head Primary School student, Rashard Gordon, at a meeting of the Portmore Rotary Club at the Jamaica Employers’ Federation headquarters on Ruthven Road in Kingston on September 19. At right is the club’s President, Vicki Hanson.

JIS: As part of its violence-prevention and early intervention efforts, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, through its Safety and Security in Schools Unit, has secured 500 metal detectors for the 2018/19 school year, up from the 130 detectors procured in 2017.

 

Director of Safety and Security in the Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Coleridge Minto, who made the disclosure at the opening of the ‘Chance, Choice, Change’ (Triple C) Day Camp on September 19 at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club, St. Catherine, said 30 walk-through scanners have also been secured for this school year, up from five in 2017.

 

The equipment was secured through the Ministry’s partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has provided US$3 million in funding under the Safe Schools Programme (SSP).

 

Mr. Minto said funding has also been provided for perimeter fencing, cameras, capacity-building training and support to uniformed groups in schools.

 

He noted that the introduction of these measures is part of a multifaceted approach by the Ministry to create a safe school environment.

 

“The SSP involves a paradigm shift in the area of student behaviour and discipline. It emphasises prevention and early intervention strategies in dealing with the social, emotional and behavioural difficulties experienced by some students,” ASP Minto explained.

 

One of the strategies is the behaviour modification camp, ‘Chance, Choice and Change’, which commenced during the summer. It targets students in school, aged 15 to 18, who have been in conflict with the law and are on probation.

 

Speaking with JIS News, State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, lauded the initiative and said the Ministry remains committed to finding creative solutions to address the issue of deviant behaviour among youth.

 

“It is a great model for expanding our reach. Targeting probationers is a very good drive because we have always said we can’t just focus on in-school youth; we have to focus on out-of-school youth as well. The truth is, young people interact, and when you treat with probationers and you get them on the right track… they can then become models and mentors for other young people,” he said.

 

“There is nothing more powerful than seeing a youngster who has made a mistake and has now turned his/her life around,” the State Minister added.

 

Mr. Green said the Ministry will be working with the Ministry of National Security and the HEART Trust/NTA to monitor these young persons to see the impact that the camp has had and to provide additional support to keep them positively engaged.

 

The camp forms part of the activities for Anti-Gang Week 2018, which is being observed from September 16 to 21under the theme ‘Gang Life Equals No Life’.

 

It is organised by the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime (C-TOC) Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), in collaboration with the Safety and Security in Schools Unit and the Department of Correctional Services.

 

CAPTION: Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Coleridge Minto, Director of Safety and Security in Schools Unit, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, addresses the opening ceremony for the ‘Chance, Choice, Change’ (Triple C) Day Camp on Wednesday (September 19), at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club, St. Catherine. The event forms part of activities for Anti-Gang Week 2018, being observed from September 16 to 21 under the theme ‘Gang Life Equals No Life’.

JIS: Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, on Wednesday (September 19), officially opened the region’s first Festo Authorised and Certified Training (FACT) Centre at the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) in Kingston.

 

The state-of-the-art facility, which will deliver international certification in industrial automation and mechatronics, is the result of a partnership between the CMU and globally renowned German training institute, Festo Didactic.

 

The Centre, which is the largest to be established globally, has the capacity to train and certify more than 4,000 students annually.

 

Prime Minister Holness, who delivered the keynote address, said the facility’s development is consistent with Jamaica’s commitment “to develop our human resources, so [that] they are second to none and to develop our institutions, so that they are modern and internationally competitive”.

 

He noted that the world is on the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution, which integrates physical, digital and biological technologies, and the scope and complexity of transformation requires that “we must be cutting-edge and ensure that high standards are the norm and not the exception”.

 

He said the Centre will ensure that graduates are “instilled with analytical and creative habits of thinking and an aptitude for discernment and sound judgement that can guide them through a lifetime of achievement and success”.

 

“It is through equipping our human resources to be productive and competitive that we will attain the potential and will for positive growth and development,” he pointed out.

 

In his remarks, Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon, Ruel Reid, said the FACT Centre has provided the Caribbean with the largest cutting-edge engineering training capacity.

 

“The CMU, as we all know, has already soared to national, regional and international acclaim… and now partnering with Festo… will bring the university to even higher heights. I am confident that this addition to the CMU campus will yield fantastic results,” he added.

 

Festo Didactic Regional Director for the Americas, Dr. Theodoros Ktistakis, noted that the FACT Centre’s opening culminates six years of discussions with the CMU, and will provide training opportunities for young people in a “modern and motivating environment”.

 

He said that the training and certification that will be provided at the CMU, through the FACT Centre, “will have worldwide acceptance”.

 

“The training facility, which we inaugurate today, and the CMU’s team, which are trained and certified, are the guarantors that education and skills development correspond to international standards. Festo, as a long-time partner of CMU, will constantly support you and will be at your side,” he assured.

 

For his part, CMU President, Professor Fritz Pinnock, described the FACT Centre’s establishment, as a “journey with a vision”, adding that “this is only the beginning, as we [will be] leapfrogging into the future” through the training and certification provided.

 

Other key partners in the development of the FACT Centre include the PetroCaribe Development Fund, which provided US$402 million of the US$700-million-plus expenditure on the facility, and HEART Trust/NTA, which will partner with the CMU in programme delivery.

 

CAPTION: Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (left), tries out a hydraulic training device in a laboratory at the Festo Authorised and Certified Training (FACT) Centre located at the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) in Kingston. The occasion was a tour of the facility following its official opening on Wednesday (September 19). Looking on are Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (right); and FACT-certified trainer, Ricardo Hopwood.