JIS: Cabinet has approved the awarding of a contract, valued US$1,941,848.34, to Carlong Publishers Limited to supply and distribute textbooks for students in grades one to three islandwide, under the Government’s 2018/19 Primary Textbook Programme.

 

The company has also been awarded a contract in the sum of $110,593,387.65 to procure and distribute textbooks for students under the National Textbook Loan Scheme for the new academic year.

 

This was disclosed by Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, during Wednesday’s (August 29) post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House.

 

He advised that Carlong is one of three companies contracted under the National Textbook Loan Scheme for 2018/19.

 

The others are Kingston Bookshop Limited and Book Wizard Limited, which have been awarded contracts valued $210,517,535.14 and $65,587,200, respectively

 

Meanwhile, Senator Reid advised that Cabinet approved the annual reports and audited statements of seven State entities for tabling in Parliament.

 

These are the 2016/17 annual reports and audited statements for the Casino Gaming Commission, Kingston Freezone Company Limited, Rural Agricultural Development Authority, and Nutrition Products Limited; the 2016/17 annual reports of the Overseas Examinations Commission and the Management Institute for National Development; and the 2017/18 annual report of the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons.

 

CAPTION: Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left), converses with Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Fayval Williams, at Wednesday’s (August 29) post-Cabinet press briefing held at Jamaica House.

JIS: Equipping parents with effective parenting skills is believed to be a powerful strategy to help keep children on the right path, and the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), has been making strides in accomplishing that goal.

 

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Commission, an agency of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Kaysia Kerr, says its mandate is to offer proactive and reactive parenting education and support.

 

Proactive education speaks to the reception of knowledge prior to the consideration of conceiving a child, whilst reactive education delves into the determinants of effective parenting by offering psychosocial support and education.

 

To achieve this, the NPSC’s machinery has been mobilised in eastern parishes, working in homes, schools, communities and with other government agencies to promote good parenting practices, and crafting intervention measures for parents who have been struggling with child-rearing.

 

Ms. Kerr tells JIS News that the Commission’s policies and programmes have reached over 10,000 parents, with efforts being made to expand its reach.

 

As such, the NPSC has now turned its attention to western Jamaica, with aggressive work already being done in Mount Salem, St. James (Zone of Special Operations), through parent mentorship and the establishment of a Parent Place at Emmanuel Chapel.

 

The Parent Place thrust forms part of the USAID/Ministry of Education’s partnership for Improved Safety and Security in Schools, which is intended to reduce antisocial behaviour among youth and reduce the ability of criminal elements gaining access to school premises.

 

“We have been working primarily in the Zone of Special Operations in St James, and this was deliberate, because the Social Development Commission’s findings said that it was poor parenting that was responsible for one of the drivers of crime, and so that is something that we can’t take lightly,” she says.

 

Parent mentors who have been trained under the NPSC’s Parent Mentorship Programme have been working with parents in Mount Salem who need parenting advice and have been reaping some amount of success.

 

Mark Rodney from Trench Town (Kingston) is one such parent mentor who has been working in Mount Salem.

 

For Mr. Rodney, volunteering to work in the community stems from the need for more men to become involved in the lives of their children and the wider society.

 

A father of four, he says several parents, in particular single mothers, have sought the support of mentors at the Parent Place, and that intervention strategies are offered based on the needs of each parent.

 

“They are at ease in trying to get remedies for their problems, because we actually do the necessary groundwork, we take their information, we scrutinise them and we see what we can do,” he explains.

 

“So we really scrutinise the problems and we see what the best avenue is – if it is for referral or we can do what we do best,” Mr. Rodney adds.

 

Shelby Spaulding is also among the group of parent mentors who traverse the Mount Salem community on foot, extending invitation to parents to utilise the services of the Parent Place.

 

She tells JIS News that parents have been receptive of their efforts, with some expressing an interest in becoming mentors themselves.

 

“I walk the community and try to get persons to visit the Parent Place, which they say is a wonderful thing and they want us to come down more, because they see the need for it. Some of them want to become mentors,” she notes.

 

Ms. Kerr echoes similar sentiments of the need for St James-based mentors, noting that two additional Parent Places will be opened in the parish at the end of September, with 30 persons currently being trained to work in those facilities.

 

“We are training parents in Montego Bay to be mentors, so that they can give the same kind of support at home and at school and to their communities. What we have been doing is deploying our parent mentors who have been trained in Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Thomas and St. Catherine to Montego Bay, and that is not something we can sustain,” she says.

 

Ms. Kerr tells JIS News that a Parent Place will also be established in Hanover, with the training of some 45 parent mentors to begin in September.

 

“We have to do this because if we don’t strengthen the capacity of parents, then the home-school relationship is threatened,” she argues.

 

CAPTION: Chief Executive Officer of the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), Kaysia Kerr (fifth left, front row), with parent mentors from Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Thomas, and St. Catherine at the Parent Place, at the Emmanuel Chapel in Mount Salem, St. James.

JIS: Chairperson of the Early Childhood Commission (ECC), Trisha Williams-Singh, is reminding operators of early-childhood institutions (ECI) that they are required to register their institutions with the ECC.

 

“If you are registered, that means you are operating legally. So, if you are not registered… you are operating illegally,” Mrs. Williams-Singh said.

 

She was speaking at a function held recently at the offices of the National Volunteer Centre, Camp Road in Kingston.

 

“I use this opportunity to say to you, get on the books, do right by the children of Jamaica,” the Chairman urged.

 

Under the Early Childhood Act and Regulations of 2005, all ECIs operating in Jamaica must be registered with the ECC, which is the sector’s regulatory agency.

 

As part of the registration process, institutions must satisfy standards for health and safety (public health and fire safety reports, and police records); and educational quality, including teacher-qualification certificates. They must also pass a stringent inspection process.

 

The ECC was established in 2003 by the Early Childhood Commission Act. Its functions include advising the Minister on policy matters relating to early-childhood care, education and development in Jamaica.

 

These include initiatives and actions to achieve national early-childhood development goals; assisting in the preparation of plans and programmes concerning early-childhood development; and monitoring and evaluating the system.

 

CAPTION: Early Childhood Commission (ECC) Chair, Trisha Williams-Singh (left), listens to Executive Director of the Commission, Karlene Degrasse-Deslandes.

JIS: The Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) is encouraging parents to take advantage of the varied options to minimise expenses for the purchase of textbooks for the 2018/19 academic year.

 

Speaking with JIS News, Communications Specialist at the CAC, Dorothy Campbell, outlines some of the options that parents can explore to ensure that their children are equipped with the necessary books for the new school year.

 

Among the options are school-book rental schemes and using social media platforms to facilitate book exchanges or buying books advertised on these platforms at a discounted rate.

 

Another option, she recommends, is the purchase of books from independent distributors who have established relationships with schools to supply textbooks at a reasonable cost.

 

Ms. Campbell is advising parents to check that these online books have the current information that is being used by the teacher.

 

“The CAC is all about ensuring that parents are empowered with whatever information or tools are available, so the online access is very important. However, I would caution that students who may choose to use online versions of a textbook to ensure that it is the correct edition, because sometimes there are slight revisions or very significant revisions that will entail an entire chapter being inserted, or the text may be time-sensitive,” she tells JIS News.

 

Ms. Campbell also recommends that parents check whether the books are under revision. This can be done by comparing the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) with that of the most recent edition.

 

The ISBN is a 10- or 13-digit number that identifies a specific registered book, an edition of a book, or a book-like product (such as an audio book).

 

“Check to make sure that they match, because a book may carry the same writer, same title – everything – but that critical line …which says revised edition (with the year) is vital, as it may impact critical material,” she explains.

 

Ms. Campbell notes that an important part of planning are the orientation exercises hosted by schools, and urges parents to attend these sessions as they can give parents valuable information to assist in managing back-to-school expenses.

 

“Ensure that you participate in the orientation sessions and that you take notes. If the opportunity arises, ensure that you meet your child’s homeroom teacher, and network with other school officials and parents to find out what are the critical items that you need to get,” she says.

 

Students are also encouraged to take note of any information from the schools during the first week about books that may no longer be relevant for the course or will not be used in the first term.

 

“The teacher will be able to tell them if they need ‘literature book A’ for the first term, but don’t need the other two until later down in the year, so you only need to purchase one instead of three at once. You can delay buying those until you are in a position to do so. It is important that you talk to your child. We want parents to exhaust these opportunities before they go off and purchase new books in stores,” Ms. Campbell says.

 

She also advises parents to check with community civic groups, including churches and parent-teacher associations (PTAs), for any opportunity to access used books at special prices.

 

Additionally, Ms. Campbell is also encouraging parents to use the Price Inquiry Tool Portal on the CAC’s website in their planning and management of purchases.

 

“What we are asking parents to do is, if they have access to the Internet, they can visit our website at www.cac.gov.jm and use the price enquiry tool to select the store from one of the 90 outlets.

 

They will see the prices, and they can plan for the amount of money they have to spend, what they can purchase now, versus what they can purchase in a couple of weeks,” she says.

 

Parents can also use the CAC Annual Textbook Survey on the website as a shopping guide.

 

This year’s survey indicates that there is an overall two per cent increase in the average price islandwide for all texts out of 90 retailers surveyed.

 

Of the 90 bookstores visited between July 23 and 27, some 26 are located in the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area (Kingston, St. Andrew, Portmore and Spanish Town) and 64 from other urban and rural towns of all the parishes, including St. Catherine.

 

A total of 133 popular textbooks were surveyed, consisting of 90 secondary-level, 30 primary-level and 13 infant-level textbooks covering 17 subject areas.

 

The results of the survey revealed the following: a five per cent increase in prices for infant-school texts, with an average cost of $1,224.95 in 62 per cent of the stores; a four per cent price increase for primary-school texts, with an average cost of $1,566.73 in 64 per cent of stores; a one per cent decrease in grades seven to nine texts, with an average cost of $1,795.85 in 39 per cent of stores; and a one per cent decrease in CSEC/CAPE texts, with an average cost of $3,578.36 in 23 per cent of stores surveyed.

 

CAPTION: Communications Specialist at the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC), Dorothy Campbell, speaks at a JIS ‘Think Tank’.

JIS: Leading PR1ME Mathematics Specialist from Singapore, Kelly Lim Kai Ling, recently conducted a special two-and-a-half-hour mathematics lesson with several grade-five students and two teachers from the New Providence Primary School in Kingston.

 

This session was facilitated by The Book Merchant Limited (BML), organiser of the Amazing Mathematics Powers (AMP)…PR1MEd for Success workshop, in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Liguanea Plains, which for the past 13 years has adopted the New Providence Primary School.

 

Ms. Lim Kai Ling was in Jamaica to lead the sessions at the second staging of the AMP…PR1MEd for Success workshop, which was held from August 21 to 23 at the Shortwood Teachers’ College, in Kingston.

 

“We took advantage of the visit of the Singaporean trainer to assist teachers and students at the New Providence Primary School. The teachers observed the lesson, which will assist them as they prepare for their own lesson delivery for the new National Standards Curriculum and the Primary Exit Profile (PEP),” Chief Executive Officer of BML, Sharon Neita, told JIS News.

 

President of the Rotary Club of Liguanea Plains, Howard Smith, welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with the BML, as education and literacy is one of six areas of focus for the club.

 

“We thought it was a good idea to partner with another company to do maths intervention, which is essential, based on the current challenges that persons are having with (the subject),” he explained.

 

The service club provided lunch for all the participants. Feedback from all present at the session was very positive.

 

For student, Kebra Simpson, the teaching session by Ms. Lim Kai Ling was fun. “She explained the information clearly and taught us how to draw out the bar model for problem-solving,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, the mathematics expert was equally impressed with the students. She described them as “very well behaved”, adding that “they were open-minded, eager to learn and very responsive”.

 

She pointed out that prior to the start of the session, she checked their knowledge of concepts taught in grades three and four and was impressed with their retention of the concepts.

 

“In Singapore, our teachers are supervised to make sure that they will have student achievement,” Ms. Lim Kai Ling noted. For grade-four teacher, Nicole Thompson, who is also trained in PR1ME Mathematics, the material presented by Ms. Lim Kai Ling assisted in strategies for solving problems and critical thinking.

 

Mrs. Thompson commended the parents and guardians who sent the children out and expressed delight at the turnout of students.

 

“This is my corner of the world, and I try to make a difference here. The children came, as their parents responded very well to my WhatsApp note to come out for this extra mathematics class,” she said.

 

More than 600 primary-school mathematics teachers, coaches and specialists from Jamaica, Belize and Barbados participated in the Amazing Mathematics Powers (AMP)…PR1MEd for Success workshop, which was fully endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

 

CAPTION: Students of Ne Providence Primary School in Kingston and their teacher, Nicole Thomson (left, background), take part in a Mathematics lesson with PR1ME Mathematics Specialist, Kelly Lim Kai Ling (right), recently at the school. The class was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Liguanea Plains and The Book Merchant Limited (BML). Ms. Lim Kai Ling was in Jamaica as the leading facilitator at the second staging of BML’s ‘Amazing Mathematics Powers (AMP)… PR1MEd for Success’ workshop for teachers that was held at the Shortwood Teachers’ College in Kingston from August 21 to 23.

JIS: Over 30 young persons from communities across the Corporate Area have been certified after completing six months of training under the ‘Strengthening the Culture of Integrity Jamaica Project: Skills Building for Integrity Programme’.

 

The engagement, which was initiated and implemented by the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) Limited, targeted persons, aged 17 to 45, who were taught English Language, Mathematics, and social and personal development life skills, and offered psychosocial support.

 

The initiative, which qualifies the participants to enrol in HEART Trust/NTA programmes, also exposed them to training in information technology; integrity; human rights; gender, parenting and family planning; and covered several topics including sexual and reproductive rights, and how corruption influences lives.

 

Additionally, they were taught résumé writing, interviewing skills, dressing for the work environment, professional etiquette, and entrepreneurship.

 

The participants received their certificates during a graduation ceremony at Alhambra Inn in St. Andrew on Wednesday (August 22).

 

Youngsters involved in the WROC’s summer school programme were also presented with certificates of participation.

 

Speaking at the ceremony, WROC’s Executive Director, Nikeisha Sewell Lewis, said the training will enhance the lives of the participants by equipping them with critical knowledge and skills.

 

Ms. Sewell Lewis, in congratulating the beneficiaries, assured them that “at WROC, you have found a family who is going to be there to continue to support you, and we look forward to going to more graduations (with you).”

 

“We know at WROC that if you want to see a new Jamaica… if you want to see a Jamaica where corruption is spurned and integrity is number one, then you have to work with young people and we know that the youth, particularly in our communities, are very vulnerable. So we took on this project not to empower the youth, but to allow them to empower themselves,” she said.

 

Psychologist Deandra Brown, who was guest speaker, encouraged the graduates to always endeavour to strive for the best and implored “don’t give up on your goals and dreams…be the best (that) you can.”

 

National Integrity Action (NIA) representative, Hezekiah Hall, said the training will expose the participants to valuable life skills which will enhance holistic development.

 

Skills Building Coordinator, Ivan Coore, informed that of the 47 programme participants, 32 completed the six-month training component, while 23 gained passes in Mathematics and English.

 

In expressing gratitude for the initiative, beneficiary, Stephen McDonald, lauded the organisers for conceptualising the programme, noting that it provides a platform for youth development.

 

The programme was sponsored by the NIA and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

CAPTION: Skills Building Coordinator, Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) Limited, Ivan Coore (left), congratulates Mansfield Greensword (right), who successfully completed the WROC’s six-month ‘Strengthening the Culture of Integrity Jamaica Project: Skills Building for Integrity Programme’, during a graduation ceremony at Alhambra Inn in St. Andrew on Wednesday (August 22). Other participants (from 2nd left) are: Paulette Lyons Shaw and Stephen McDonald.

JIS: The first cohort of participants in the Youth Enrichment Programme (YEP) in St. James recently graduated after completing five weeks of comprehensive training and development in various skill sets.

 

The 540 youth, aged 17 to 35, were trained in food preparation, barbering, business process outsourcing, nail technology, and as waiters and waitresses. They are now ready to take their place among Jamaica’s employed labour force.

 

The initiative, which was implemented in July, is the brainchild of Custos Rotulorum for St. James, Bishop the Hon. Conrad Pitkin, and a Board comprising well-thinking residents and stakeholders of the parish, who share a common interest – advancing the welfare of Jamaica’s youth.

 

Their endeavours have been significantly underpinned by strategic collaborative support from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, in the overall quest to ensure that the programme will, as its motto affirms: ‘Leave None Behind’.

 

This underlying support has manifested through, among other things, partnerships forged with several secondary and tertiary institutions in western Jamaica to facilitate training of the initial student cohort.

 

The participating institutions were: Anchovy High School, Cambridge High School, Green Pond High School, Hopewell High School, Irwin High School, St. James High School, and the Western Hospitality Institute.

 

The Custos notes that the Principals of these institutions were among the many stakeholders embracing YEP.

 

Bishop Pitkin, who provided a programme overview during the inaugural graduation ceremony at Faith Temple Assemblies of God Church in Montego Bay on August 15, noted that while the initial goal was to enrol 1,400 participants, the 540 students accommodated was a “great achievement”.

 

“[The fact that] we could have kept 500 young people off the streets of St. James for five weeks… that’s success,” he contended.

 

Similar sentiments were echoed by the graduates who expressed their appreciation and gratitude for the initiative.

 

Among them was Kaylia Hemmings, who enrolled in the food preparation course.

She noted that she learned much over the five weeks, including fundamentals of kitchen hygiene and etiquette, while declaring that “I enjoyed the experience”.

 

Bishop Pitkin tells JIS News, that while the programme does not currently have a job placement component, he is looking to change that soon.

 

“We are hoping that those [students who are] 18 years and older, we can assist them in finding a job. We are looking at directing them into areas of their choice where they can be gainfully employed… thereby empowering themselves… [and] can go back to school later on and further their education,” he states.

 

Meanwhile, work is underway to diversify the initiative’s offerings to target younger children, through a values and attitudes programme which Bishop Pitkin says is on the horizon.

 

“The planning committee [of YEP] met to look at how we can implement a programme in the infant and primary schools. If we are going to develop our education system in Jamaica in a way that we leave none behind, as is our slogan, we have to start at that level… the foundation,” he emphasises.

 

Bishop Pitkin also advises that YEP’s delivery over the initial five weeks will be evaluated and research undertaken to determine how best it can be expanded.

 

He hints that, to this end, there is the possibility that additional courses such as commercial food preparation and cosmetology could be introduced.

 

The next set of YEP courses will begin at the end of September.

 

CAPTION: Graduates of the Youth Enrichment Programme (YEP) listen keenly as Custos Rotulorum for St. James, Bishop the Hon Conrad Pitkin, provides a project overview during the inaugural graduation ceremony at Faith Temple Assemblies of God Church, Princess Street, Montego Bay on August 15. The five-week training programme, which was undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, certified the 540 participants, aged 17 to 35, in several skills sets including barbering, business process outsourcing, food preparation, and nail technology.

JIS: Schools located in the Denham Town Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO) will benefit from the implementation of a School-Wide Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support (SWPBIS) framework, when the 2018/19 academic year starts in September.

 

The SWPBIS, spearheaded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, is a proactive, team-based initiative tailored to create and sustain safe and effective schools, by fostering a disciplined and structured environment to deal with challenges such as student violence.

 

It will, among other things, target issues such truancy, and behaviour modification among youth and adolescents.

 

The framework will place emphasis on preventing/solving behavioural challenges through a data-driven approach; and developing pro-social skills.

 

The beneficiary schools for the upcoming academic year include: St. Anne’s CAP; St. Albans and Denham Town Primary Schools; Denham Town High School; St. Anne’s Primary School; and Chetolah Park Primary, where the initiative is already underway.

 

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are partnering with the Ministry on the initiative. 

 

Senior Education Officer in the Ministry’s Guidance Counselling Unit, Allison Cooke-Hawthorne, tells JIS News that the SWPBIS’ implementation will be underpinned by the formation of support teams in each institution where the programme is being undertaken.

 

She explains that teams comprise administrators and support personnel such as deans of discipline, guidance counsellors and parents.

 

Mrs. Cooke-Hawthorne says they are tasked to review the data for their institutions to determine the imperatives to be imparted to the students.

 

“They will develop three to five core values… and most of these (focus on) respect, excellence, values that you want to see and what you think the school represents,” she adds.

 

The Senior Education Officer points out that the SWPBIS utilises a tiered approach in addressing challenges with student behaviour.

 

She explains that once stakeholder consensus is reached on what the core values are, all parties should, thereafter, be in discussions for further enlightenment on these targets.

 

Mrs. Cooke-Hawthorne points out that if someone does not respond to what is outlined in the core values, the engagement will segue into tier two intervention.

 

“[Here] we will probably have to pull them aside and teach them [what the desired behaviour looks like]. You try [in this case] to check on the barriers [to determine] why they are not practicing the positive behaviour,” she outlines.

 

The Senior Education Officers further states that tier three level is resorted to if no positive response is forthcoming after the initial two interventions.

 

[Here,] perhaps, we [have to] go deep down into some more assessments… finding out what is happening at home. So we might have to get the social services involved,” she adds.

 

The success of the SWPBIS’ implementation is dependent on staff and stakeholder “buy-in” and an assumed paradigm shift for educators.

 

Mrs Cooke-Hawthorne notes that the SWPBIS is a key strategy for abolishing corporal punishment in schools.

 

She points out that whereas traditional methods of discipline focus on the student’s problem behaviour and applies punishment with a goal of stemming the issue, positive behaviour intervention support applied under SWPBIS, replaces undesired conduct with new behaviours or skills.

 

Further, SWPBIS alters environments, teaches appropriate skills and rewards appropriate behaviour.

 

Meanwhile, Mrs Cooke-Hawthorne says the framework being implemented will not be duplicated in every institution, but rather individually tailored to “what exists at your school and creating [a] safe environment.”

 

“So for [example] if you have a playground area where you know it’s dangerous, but children love to climb on top of something and jump, you now have to look at that area and say what is the message we want to send to these children, instead of saying [to them] ‘don’t go over there’… because once you say that [they want to know] ‘why can’t I go over there?’,” she adds.

 

The Senior Education Officer emphasizes that the SWPBIS is about giving positive re-enforcement and rewarding students when they display the positive skills they have been taught.

 

Meanwhile, teachers and parents and other relevant stakeholders at the participating schools will receive training under the SWPBIS framework.

 

“We are quite ready for September. We have a plan we are now engaging our principals to get dates for the training. We have our training package… [so] we are ready,” Mrs. Cooke-Hawthorne assures.

 

Ultimately it is anticipated that the SWPBIS programme will create a culture in each school that fosters morally upright behaviour and academic excellence for all students, while engendering a harmonious environment of respect among all members of the school community, including students and teachers.

 

CAPTION: Senior Education Officer, Guidance Counselling Unit, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Allison Cooke-Hawthorne.

JIS: Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says a grooming policy for schools will come into effect when the 2018/19 academic year begins in September.

 

He says the Ministry has signed off on the policy that will provide guidelines to assist administrators and parents in determining the acceptability, appropriateness and suitability of students’ general appearance for school, particularly in relation to how hair is worn.

 

“The law allows the school to set rules, and then you are required to abide by them. Part of the guideline is to say to schools, they must review their rules so that they conform to the laws of the constitution and they must engage their stakeholders so that they can all agree about what rules are reasonable,” Senator Reid said.

 

He was speaking at a Ministry sensitization session at the Montego Bay High School auditorium in St. James on Thursday (August 23).

 

Senator Reid encouraged parents and other stakeholders to view the full policy on the Ministry’s website at www.moe.gov.jm.

 

Additionally, he anticipates that schools administrators will collaborate with Parent-Teachers Associations (PTA) to ensure consensus among all parties on policies being embarked on.

 

The sensitization session was also used to discuss the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), the provision of metal detectors in school, the expanded pilot rural school bus programme, the proposed nutrition policy, and commencement of the seven-year secondary programme, which is slated to begin in the upcoming academic year.

 

CAPTION: Education, Youth, and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, addressing stakeholders during the Ministry’s sensitization session at the Montego Bay High School Auditorium in St. James on Thursday (August 23).

JIS: Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, says the Government is investing more resources in education for the 2018/19 academic year in a bid to further improve students’ academic and developmental outcomes.

 

Mr. Green said the Government is pleased with the notable improvements in students’ performance in this year’s Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) external examinations and Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), and anticipates that with increased funding and other resources, the 2018/19 outcomes will surpass those.

 

“Education moves generations and people forward. So we as (the) Government have to ensure that we’re doing all we can to create that excellence in education. That is why in the last two years, we have been putting significant resources into our education system,” the State Minister said.

 

He was speaking at Victoria Mutual Building Society’s (VMBS) 2018 scholarship awards presentation ceremony at The Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston, on Thursday (August 23).

 

Mr. Green said the Government has been meticulous and strategic in allocating significant resources at every level of the education system.

 

 “For example, in our primary schools, we used to give $850 per child for school operation… we have moved that to $2,500 per child for every school. At the secondary level, we used to give $11,500 per child… we have moved that to $19,500,” he informed.

 

Additionally, the State Minister said funding for school-feeding programmes has also been increased so that needy students can be offered at least one meal daily.

 

“When we look at our school-feeding programme, we were only feeding children three times for the week. We put $2 billion into that system so that we could feed our children at least five times – every day of the week,” Mr. Green said.

 

He maintained that the Administration remains committed to “putting much more resources into education to try and (engender academic) excellence (in our students).”

 

Meanwhile, Mr. Green commended VMBS for, this year, awarding scholarships valued at $1.82 million to needy students and those saving with the institution.

 

Teacher from Little London, Westmoreland, Treshana Weise, was awarded the VM Foundation’s 2018 Master Plan Scholarship valued at $160,000, to pursue tertiary-level studies.

 

Tertiary students, Jevaughan Carty, Tashae Bowes, Ricardo Dyke and Nicholas Nelson were awarded Future Plan Scholarships valued at $130,000 each.

 

The top-performing Grade Six Achievement Test student for each of the counties, who are also VMBS Junior Plan savers, received the 2018 Junior Plan County Scholarships.

 

They are: Afiya Morris from Cornwall; Rishona Williamson – Middlesex; and Karla Daley – Surrey. Their scholarships are valued at $40,000 each.

 

Fifty-one other top-performing students from all parishes islandwide, who also save with VMBS, were awarded scholarships valued at $20,000 each.

 

CAPTION: Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green (right), presents an award to Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) tertiary level scholar, Tashae Bowes, during the institution’s scholarship awards presentation ceremony at The Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston, on Thursday (August 23).