JIS: Sixteen students, who attend non-traditional high schools across the island, have been rewarded for their outstanding performance in academics by the National Child Month Committee (NCMC).

 

The students, many of whom face various challenges, were feted at the NCMC’s annual Youth Academic Achievement Awards ceremony held on Wednesday (June 27) at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston.

 

They received gift baskets and certificates, book vouchers, plaques, among other things.

 

Chief Executive Officer of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Rosalee Gage-Grey, who addressed the gathering said it was a pleasure to celebrate with the young people, who are being awarded for academic excellence, having attained five or more subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level in 2017.

 

“You have laboured long and hard, and now success is your reward,” she said.

 

“These youngsters, represented here today, are a signal of hope for a better Jamaica and a clear demonstration of resilience and perseverance despite the challenges faced,” she added.

 

Mrs. Gage-Grey said the CPFSA cares about the development of the nation’s children, and thus has remained a partner with the NCMC in the staging of the annual awards ceremony.

 

She encouraged the students to continue to pursue excellence. “As we congratulate and celebrate with you today, I want to implore you to continue the upward mobility in ensuring that you matriculate to higher education. This can only be achieved by staying focused,” she said.

 

Chairperson, NCMC, Dr. Pauline Mullings, said that the entity is committed to continuing the awards programme “because we are finding young people who are doing well academically. They have challenging situations, and they are involved in community service [and] giving back”.

 

“They are from non-traditional high schools… where many persons felt that they could not achieve. We set out to prove to our nation that we have young people who are excelling, who nobody knows, and so we decided that this is the route,” she added.

 

Britney Huie from Irwin High School in St. James and Emroy McKenzie from Kemps Hill High School in Clarendon, who were named the Top Girl and Top Boy, respectively, expressed gratitude for the recognition.

 

“I feel real good about being awarded today. My hard work and determination has paid off,” Britney told JIS News.

 

Emroy said he is “truly grateful for this award. I’ve worked really hard to overcome my challenges, and it feels good to be recognised”.

 

The other students honoured are Vernal Headley from Hopewell High in Hanover; Shadia Franklin from Troy High and Ramonia Downer from Albert Town High in Trelawny; Sadiki Lindsay from Aabuthnott Gallimore High in St. Ann; Janelle Hallwood from Port Antonio High in Portland; Dacia Dixon from Yallahs High in St. Thomas; Omarie Davis from Penwood High and Anthony Higgins from Tarrant High in St. Andrew; Tyra Hepburn from Bridgeport High in St. Catherine; Toriann Ellis from Denbigh High in Clarendon; Joshoy Stephens from May Day High and Jayda Morgan from Winston Jones High in Manchester; Deandrea Green from Roger Clarke High in St. Elizabeth and Deandra Smith from the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

 

The sponsors of the event are GraceKennedy Group, Kool Runnings Adventure Park, National Baking Company Foundation, Carlong Publishers (Caribbean) Limited, Chukka Foundation, Island Grill, and Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI).

 

CAPTION: Chief Executive Officer, Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Rosalee Gage-Grey (left), speaking with Britney Huie (second left) from Irwin High School in St. James and Emroy McKenzie from Kemps Hill High School in Clarendon, who were named the Top Girl and Top Boy respectively, at the National Child Month Committee’s (NCMC) Youth Academic Achievement Awards ceremony, held at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston on Wednesday (June 27). At left is Chairperson, NCMC, Dr. Pauline Mullings.

JIS: Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has lauded this year’s recipients of the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education for collectively giving more than 200 years of invaluable service to Jamaica.

 

Speaking at Wednesday’s (June 27) awards ceremony at Jamaica House, Mr. Holness said the 40 awardees are “most worthy” of the recognition bestowed on them.

 

“Your passion and ability to stir the intellectual curiosity of our students have seen them performing at the highest levels of excellence in national exams and in educational institutions across the globe. No matter what subject you teach, you are key to nurturing that ‘can do’ spirit that challenges and encourages our students to take risks, so that they can carve out their own pathway in the journey of lifelong learning,” he said.

 

Noting that no amount of medals or awards can adequately express the nation’s debt of gratitude for their sacrifice and dedication, Mr. Holness said the awards represent a “public thank you” for their extraordinary commitment to “shaping the lives and sharpening the minds of our children over these many decades”.

 

“I would like to congratulate (and) express my deep and sincere gratitude to you all for your contribution to nation-building. Our students’ lives and, indeed, my own have been enriched by your dedication and commitment. Education has a special place in my heart, and I’m very happy to share with you on this special occasion,” the Prime Minister added.

 

Mr. Holness also expressed the hope that teachers already retired will avail their collective experience and wisdom to the education system “as we work together to advance the welfare of our country”.

 

“As educators, be role models in demonstrating this love for lifelong learning for our students. Your examples of hard work and commitment to lifelong learning will continue to be an inspiration for years to come,” he added.

 

In his remarks, Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, said the awards are an acknowledgement of the teachers’ contribution to national development through education.

 

“Whether in the classroom or working in administration, you have helped to shape the character of students through the values imparted and in helping them to awaken dormant dreams and aspirations. The great joy we get as educators in seeing when they make good use of the opportunities that education presents is indescribable,” the Minister stated.

 

He noted that the teachers’ tremendous effort in training Jamaica’s future manpower is invaluable, adding that “your work and sacrifices have enabled many students, who might have otherwise given up on themselves to catch a vision of what they could have achieved, to apply themselves to accomplishing those goals”.

 

“Jamaica cannot honour you enough. But we are grateful that through this special ceremony, you are getting more public recognition for your dedication and service above self,” Senator Reid said.

 

For her part, Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President, Georgia Waugh Richards, said the awardees are practitioners who “pride themselves in excellent delivery and commendable student outcomes”.

 

“This evening’s function is testament to the fact that your work and worth have not gone unnoticed. The JTA is very proud of all that you represent (and) I challenge you to continue to be the role models and beacons of hope in this great nation,” Mrs. Waugh Richards said.

 

The 40 honourees were chosen from 70 nominees who have served from the early childhood to tertiary levels of the education system, by virtue of gaining the highest points from the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation Nomination Committee.

 

CAPTION: Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, presents Principal of St. Aloysius Primary School in Kingston, Althea Palmer, with the 2018 Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education. Ms. Palmer is one of 40 educators who were recognised this year. The presentations were made during Wednesday’s (June 27) awards ceremony at Jamaica House.

 

JIS: Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, is calling on teachers and other critical stakeholders in the education system to come together to enable the success of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).

 

He made the appeal as he addressed the 2018 Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education awards ceremony at Jamaica House last evening (June 27).

 

PEP, which students will sit for the first time next year, replaces the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) as the national secondary-school placement examination. It is intended to provide an improved and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education.

 

The Prime Minister said the exam aims to prepare Jamaica’s students for the 21st century “(by) moving from rote learning to developing their critical-thinking skills and abilities”.

 

Coupled with this, Mr. Holness noted, is recognition of the need to deepen support for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) without diluting the importance of the liberal arts and humanities.

 

“As educators, you have long been adept at making the connection between and among various subjects. This we must do to a greater degree to address realities,” he said.

 

The Prime Minister further noted that the National Standards Curriculum is moving the education system in the “right direction” and invited the teachers’ support, adding that “through this curriculum, we must be intentional in encouraging our students to make the connections”.

 

Forty teachers, who have collectively given over 200 years of service to education, were presented with awards during Wednesday’s ceremony.

 

The Prime Minister, in commending the award recipients, said that Jamaica’s teachers have been at the forefront of social change through their work, which has spanned generations.

 

He said that not only has this been manifested through personal behaviour, but also in their lobbying for students’ access to quality education and amendments to instructional delivery, including methods and materials used, in keeping with the rapid advancement in technology.

 

“You have continued to mould the characters of present and future generations” he added, “providing our children with a well-rounded education, developing in them a thirst for the academics, curiosity for learning, (and) a consciousness for their own responsibilities to their families, to their communities, and to their country”.

 

Mr. Holness emphasised the need for continued encouragement of the nation’s children to be imaginative and inventive, noting that “flexible thinking outside of existing norms will inspire us to do things in a different way… a much better way”.

 

He said it is against this background that the Administration continues to increase financial support for the early-childhood sector in order to lay the foundation on which the children’s minds “can be fed and nurtured for the different stages of their education”.

 

Mr. Holness said the nation’s teachers have been instrumental in the national focus towards transforming the education system to make it more adaptable to 21st century requirements.

 

He said that Jamaica has “come a far way and made good progress”.

 

“We have seen notable improvements in national exams at the primary level and in school administration. We have engaged in much dialogue to reach a common understanding of what needs to be done,” he pointed out.

 

He emphasised the need to “build on the achievements and continue to work to nurture our students, so that they can be innovative, creative, confident persons… ready to take on the challenges of their generation”.

 

CAPTION: Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen (7th right, front row), Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (centre, front row), and Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (7th left), with recipients of the 2018 Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education, at the award ceremony held at Jamaica House on Wednesday (June 27). Sharing in the occasion are: State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green (5th left); Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dean-Roy Bernard (6th right); South Manchester Member of Parliament, Michael Stewart (6th left), representing Opposition Leader, Dr. Peter Phillips; and Jamaica Teacher’s Association President, Georgia Waugh Richards (5th right).

GLEANER: The fears of parents, teachers and children that the Primary Exit Profile Examination (PEP) would interrogate primary-school children’s knowledge of foreign language has been allayed by the Ministry of Education, whose officials say that is not an area for testing in 2019.

 

PEP, which will replace the Grade Six Achievement Test, was widely expected to gauge students’ ability in a foreign language, reportedly Spanish. Schools, mainly in the rural parishes, expressed fears that their children would be at significant disadvantage, as the teachers have no training in Spanish or any other foreign language.

 

Responding to questions on the issue during a Gleaner Editors’ Forum on Monday, the ministry’s representatives put the matter to rest.

 

“As part of the curriculum, we recognise that different subject areas will provide a different kind of experience for the children. So, we group these disciplines based on the kind of experience they [students] will get.

 

“When you talk about the foreign-language component, it is treated as part of the enrichment experience for the children. So, they will not be assessed when they are doing their national examination on foreign language,” explained Clover Hamilton-Flowers, assistant chief education officer with responsibility for core curriculum.

 

Continuing, she said: “But by allowing them to interact in settings through games and songs at the early years contributes to language development. As they get older, when we allow them to interact in these ways, it becomes much easier for them than later on when they want to embark on a career pathway and they want to specialise in languages.

 

“At that stage, they are struggling. So, the idea is not that they will be writing a foreign-language examination for PEP, but it would be part of the experience they will get through play,” said Hamilton-Flowers.

 

[email protected]

 

CAPTION: Dr Clover Hamilton-Flowers

GLEANER: The performance task component of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) seeks to minimise parental interference and allow students to apply analytical skills to make sense of the world around them through projects.

 

“… We are aware that many times, the projects that children get at the primary level is actually the parents’ projects. We see them [parents] going to school with them. We see the parents at the office getting all different kinds of things to assist them,” Dr Grace McLean, chief education officer, told a Gleaner Editors’ Forum on Monday.

 

Performance tasks will be administered during grades four and five during the summer and Christmas terms in grade six. Students will do performance tasks in language arts and mathematics in grades four and six and all four subjects, which include science and social studies in grade five.

 

She explained, “The performance task may involve, for example, a field trip to a corner shop in Brompton or Marley Hill or Sturge Town, and so on, while in Kingston, it may be a supermarket.”

 

The chief education officer noted that the students would examine the processes at play and then discuss links to principles they have learned in a particular subject.

 

McLean continued: “Now, when the teacher is satisfied that he or she would have generated enough discussion and there is some understanding in terms of the fundamental principles, then there will be a particular day when the students will be allowed to answer some specific questions … .”

 

The scripts will be collected and marked by select teachers in a standardised manner, similar to the process employed for the communication task in the Grade Six Achievement Test.

 

Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle, manager of the Student Assessment Unit at the education ministry, explained that the scoring for the performance task during the three years represents 20 per cent of the overall grade.

 

She outlined that parents would be able to request a review and an independent panel will rescore the script. There is a quality assurance framework to detect and address irregularities.

 

In addition to the performance tasks, the curriculum-based tests, consisting solely of grade six content, will account for 50 per cent of a student’s grade and the ability test has a weight of 30 per cent.

 

[email protected]

 

CAPTION ONE: Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle, manager, Student Assessment Unit, Minister of Education, Youth and Information.

CAPTION TWO: Dr Grace McLean, chief education officer, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information

GLEANER: State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Floyd Green, is to appoint an advisory council and boards of visitors for residential childcare facilities, following the completion of a strategic review of state facilities by a private consultancy earlier this year.

 

Green noted that following his review of the recommendations highlighted in the report, the ministry cited the need for urgent intervention in the residential childcare sector, in particular the monitoring process and actions taken in relation to critical incidents in state facilities.

 

“The advisory council, as envisioned by the regulations to the Child Care and Protection Act, will provide a significant layer of oversight to ensure accountability in residential care and ultimately to raise the standards of care for our children,” Green said. “It will also be positioned to provide the ministers and our Child Protection Agency (CPFSA) with strategic advice as we meet the needs of children who are housed at our childcare facilities.”

 

Green added that recommendations were accepted for the re-establishment of boards of visitors for residential childcare facilities, as part of a crisis prevention and intervention model.

 

“Unlike the first model where visitors were appointed for each parish, we are seeking to ensure that every home has a board of visitors who will make announced and unannounced visits to the facilities and file reports. This is to reinforce accountability in light of recent critical incidents,” he explained.

 

Individuals on the board of visitors will be appointed for two-year terms.

 

Persons interested in serving on the board of visitors are being asked to contact the

 

Child Protection and Family Services Agency by calling 876-967-1614 or email [email protected]

 

CAPTION: Floyd Green, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information

GLEANER: Chief Education Officer Dr Grace McLean is assuring the public that education officials – being parents – are cognisant of the anxieties surrounding the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) and, therefore, will ramp up sensitisation efforts by the Ministry of Education.

 

Speaking at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum yesterday at the company’s North Street offices, McLean said that, with the mock exam of the performance task component of PEP now completed, the ministry would begin to refine the feedback and begin a full round of sensitisation come August. She noted that, in addition to continuing town-hall meetings, the ministry would also be sending information to churches island-wide for dissemination.

 

“Also, we’re going to ask them to invite us to come to speak to their Sunday school or Sabbath school teams or to speak at their homework centres … . So, that is a new approach that we’ve decided to take because we want the information to get out there to our parents, as well as our students. We intend to have this approach finalised in July with a view to commence in August,” McLean explained.

 

She also advised that sample questions for the curriculum-based test and ability test for grade six would be sent to schools this week.

 

McLean further disclosed that in September, the ministry would be providing a full publication with different kinds of questions showing how they are aligned to the curriculum so that parents, teachers and stakeholders can have this information to guide the preparation of our students. McLean noted that the ministry would be utilising social media to get the information out.

 

Persons needing information about PEP can get in touch with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information by calling its WhatsApp number, 876-455-3003, or email terri.thomas@[email protected].

 

CAPTION: Dr Grace McLean, chief education officer, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

GLEANER: The Primary Exit Profile (PEP) will equip educators with data on students, especially slow learners, to better facilitate their transition into the high-school system, according to officials from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

 

Children will be placed on one of three pathways designed to meet their level of competence. Pathway one is for students who are performing satisfactorily, the second pathway is for children who have some form of delayed learning, and the third is for students with special needs.

 

“They will be placed on a particular pathway based on the scores that they would have received in the subject areas,” explained Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle, manager of the Student Assessment Unit at the education ministry.

 

“On these pathways, the programmes at the secondary level will be customised to cater to them (students) at the different levels at which they are leaving the primary schools and entering the high schools,” Gayle told disclosed during a Gleaner Editors’ Forum yesterday.

 

Dr Grace McLean, chief education officer, added that teachers would have to analyse the performances of students starting from grade four. At that point, children would have to do their first performance task, which is a project that allows them to apply skills learned to real-world scenarios.

 

She added, “With that projection, we are now able to put the intervention in place to allow them to transition from pathway two to pathway one or for us to identify the special needs and to treat with [them] and to modify the curriculum to treat with those on pathway three.”

 

[email protected]

 

CAPTION: Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle, manager, Student Assessment Unit, Minister of Education, Youth and Information.

JIS: Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, is encouraging young people to focus on acquiring a skill in order to become more employable.

 

Mr. Green, who was speaking at a Youth Enrichment Programme consultation on crime and violence at the Sea Gardens Hotel in Montego Bay on Thursday (June 21), said that persons need to equip themselves for opportunities that now exist and those that will emerge as technology advances.

 

“I know sometimes our parents are trying to push us in various directions… (but) the jobs that they believe are the ones that are making money now, that’s not so. Those days are gone. What they need to say to their young people (is) focus on the skills areas because as we are going into what is called the fourth industrial revolution it is the skills that are important,” he outlined.

 

He noted that the Ministry is training 15,000 people over the next three years to take up jobs in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector which, he noted, offers many opportunities.

 

“The demand is extremely great, but it is not just that, I don’t want you to focus on (BPO) as a second chance because it is not. Those are the areas that make real money and it’s not just now,” he said.

 

Mr. Green noted that the Government is making strides in preparing young people for the job market, evidenced by the eight per cent decrease in unemployment among youth.

 

“We are now at 25 per cent of our young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years old who are unemployed, that’s a lot because two years ago …we were at 33 per cent of our young people who were unemployed,” he pointed out.

 

The Education State Minister, in the meanwhile, commended Custos of St. James, Bishop the Hon. Conrad Pitkin, for initiating the Youth Enrichment Programme throughout the parish.

 

“I realise that you have hit the ground running and I am happy that you have decided to place your focus on the youth. It is important that we have leadership at every level and I believe that Justices of the Peace (JPs), persons who act as Custodes, they have an extremely important job to play in touching and connecting with our young people and you are leading that charge,” he said.

 

The Youth Enrichment Programme, launched by the Custos, seeks to engage youth between the ages of 17 and 35. It involves collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and the Ministry of National Security

 

The programme is aimed at removing the stigma associated with youth within inner-city communities, providing an opportunity for them to gain a skill, employment or to continue their education, and to address the social ills perpetuating crime in the west.

 

CAPTION: Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green (right), converses with Custos of St. James, Bishop the Hon. Conrad Pitkin, at a Youth Enrichment Programme consultation on crime and violence at the Sea Gardens Hotel in Montego Bay, St. James, on Thursday (June 21).

JIS: Ground was broken today (June 19) for the construction of five additional classrooms and four technology laboratories at Immaculate Conception High School (ICHS) in St Andrew, at a cost of approximately $76 million.

 

The project, slated for completion by early 2019, is being spearheaded by the school’s Home-School Association (HSA) and aims to provide additional space for the student population, which averages just under 1,700, as well as increase the use of technology in the school’s curriculum.

 

Funding is being provided through a partnership involving the Ministry and private-sector stakeholders collaborating with the HSA.

 

Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, who took part in the ceremony, said he welcomed the initiative, which he described as the school’s response to the Ministry’s call for more schools to be built and expanded to facilitate the provision of quality high-school education.

 

“The excellence that you have at Immaculate is what we want for all students,” the Minister said.

 

“We want universal access for all students… so that we have a population that is highly skilled, trained and certified. Not only will (this) add to the local productivity on the one hand, but, equally, we will be able to attract higher quality of investments into Jamaica, so that all of us can grow and prosper,” he added.

 

Senator Reid also lauded ICHS’s administration for its outstanding work at the institution, which, he noted, has laid the foundation for the students’ success.

 

“All of us are proud of your performance at this noble institution (which) has been stellar, and the Ministry wants to thank you as a school and church family for your commitment to education (and) what you have been doing in uplifting the lives of our young ladies,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, President of the HSA, Donovan Mayne, said the project represents the first major building development undertaken at the school in approximately 20 years.

 

Mr. Mayne thanked Senator Reid for committing the Ministry’s support for the undertaking, and also the various private-sector stakeholders partnering on the project. They include the NCB Foundation and Barita Investments.

 

Additionally, Mr Mayne expressed gratitude to the staff and students, who were instrumental in raising approximately $4 million that will go towards the project.

 

For her part, Principal, Sister Angella Harris, also welcomed the project’s implementation, which she said will further enhance the environment for the students’ development and their exposure to technology, thereby preparing them for substantive careers.

 

CAPTION: Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left), breaks ground on Tuesday (June 19) for five additional classrooms and four technology laboratories at Immaculate Conception High School in St. Andrew at a cost of approximately $76 million. Also participating are grade-nine student, Avalei March (centre); and Home-School Association President, Donovan Mayne.