JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information is working with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to reach more children with special needs.

 

Education Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, who spoke with JIS News at the official opening of the $70-million Stimulation-Plus Early Childhood Centre in Rockfort, Kingston, on Friday (May 18), said the collaboration will ensure that all children who suffer from various disabilities or challenges receive the necessary early-intervention services.

 

He said he has requested data from the Social Security Ministry to ascertain the number of underserved children across the island. “We need to have that data, so we have everybody accounted for,” he noted.

 

Minister Reid is encouraging parents not to be ashamed if their children have any kind of disability, noting that “it is just how God made them, and we need to give them more love and care, so that they can become independent adults”.

 

He pointed out that with adequate early stimulation they can make a meaningful contribution to society.

 

“Your child may be born with these challenges, but, with support, they can make something good of themselves,” the Minister said.

 

Executive Director of the Early Stimulation Programme (ESP), Antonica Gunter Gayle, said the partnership between the two Ministries is welcome, as many more children will be reached.

 

“This data that is requested by the Minister is important in order for us to provide for them. Children with special needs have potential; they only need the opportunity. We ask that parents give them support to become the best that they can be,” Mrs. Gunter Gayle said.

 

The Stimulation-Plus Early Childhood Centre, operated by the ESP, comprises seven classrooms, administrative offices, sickbay, physiotherapy room and specialised play area, among other amenities.

 

It was built through funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (seated third right), observes as student at the Stimulation-Plus Early Childhood Centre, Aidane Lawrence (third left), completes a puzzle. Also looking on (from left) are Managing Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney; Executive Director of the Early Stimulation Programme (ESP), Antonica Gunter Gayle; Chief of Operations at the Inter-American Bank (IDB), Adriana La Valley; and State Minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Zavia Mayne. Occasion was the official opening of the $70-million centre in Rockfort, Kingston, on May 18. 

JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will be intensifying its outreach for the ‘Zero-to-Three’ initiative, at an Early Grade Reading Conference to be held in the first month of the next academic year.

 

The launch of the conference, which is to be held on Thursday, September 27, took place at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St. Andrew on Tuesday (May 22).

 

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, said the conference will assist the Government to strengthen the ‘Zero-to-Three’ initiative and expose early-childhood educators to expert reading practices, which they will, in return, expose to the infants.

 

He cited a recent World Bank study which says that during the first few years of a child’s life, approximately 700 neural connections are formed every second.

 

“These connections are dictated by the interplay of a baby’s genetics, environment and experiences, especially the child’s interactions with adults. These are the connections that build brain architecture, the foundation upon which all later learning and behaviour depend,” the study said.

 

The Minister also noted that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the first 1,000 days of life, the time spanning roughly between conception and one’s second birthday, is a unique period of opportunity when the foundations of optimum health, growth and neurodevelopment across the lifespan are established.

 

“Thus, this time period harbours the greatest opportunity to provide optimal nutrition to ensure normal development and also the time of greatest brain vulnerability to any nutrient deficit,” Mr. Reid said.

 

“If we do not catch our children during these first 1,000 days, many of them will fail,” he added.

 

Acting Mission Director, United States Aency for International Development (USAID) Jamaica, Mr. Andrew Colburn, said his organisation is pleased to be partnering with Jamaica to host this conference in September and to be present at its launch.

 

“USAID Jamaica is pleased to share in this exciting event to build the awareness with stakeholders…  .The launch of this Reading Conference is an opportunity to ground the endorsement of the stakeholders, and also to create more enthusiasm in the wider public domain for reading,” Mr. Colburn said.

 

He added that the USAID is pleased to be one of the foremost international development partners to have assisted the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information to improve early-grade reading in most of the primary schools across the island.

 

His organisation will continue to assist through the USAID/Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Reads Capacity Programme, which seeks to increase the impact, scale and sustainability of early-grade-reading interventions in the Latin American and the Caribbean region.

 

The USAID/LAC Reads Capacity Programme is coordinated by the American Institute for Research, in association with Juárez and Associates and has been implemented in Jamaica by EduConnect Jamaica Limited (EduConnectJA).

 

To sustain effective early-grade literacy (EGL) initiatives, USAID/LAC Reads Capacity Programme and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will also collaborate with other stakeholders in the early childhood sector to get buy-in and establish an EGL Community of Practice in order to create a ‘think tank’, share business success and evidence based research, and develop innovative materials.

 

The Conference will be hosted by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, the USAID, EduConnectJA and the LAC Reads Capacity Programme, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston under the theme ‘Get reading, right from the start’.

 

CAPTION: Early Grade Reading Conference 1: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, addresses the launch of the Early Grade Reading Conference at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St. Andrew on Tuesday (May 22).

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid says his Ministry will be working with the police to re-introduce the truancy officer programme in schools.

 

This, he said, is to ensure that all children are accounted for at all times which will lessen the likelihood of them being recruited by gangs or become involved in criminal activities.

 

“No child should be left behind, because if we fail to do that, all we are doing is leaving them to be taken over by the gangsters,” he said.

 

The Minister was addressing the first in a series of anti-gang workshops at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on May 18.

 

Mr. Reid said the programme “is something that we have to put back in place” to ensure that once students are at the age for school, they must be attending school regularly.

 

The Education Minister stressed that students found to be out of school must be able to account for why they are not attending school regularly.

 

In the meantime, Mr. Reid noted that the education system must be the avenue through which troubled youth can lead a more purposeful life and transition out of a life of crime.

 

“We are saying that those who themselves are involved in organized crime, there is now an opportunity for you to come out, be trained, be skilled, be empowered, put down the guns, put down the crime, and let Jamaica be a crime free country,” he stressed.

 

For his part, Acting Commander of the Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime Branch, Superintendent of Police Anthony McLaughlin, said the police is serious about dismantling gangs and welcomes working with the Education Ministry to achieve this feat.

 

He noted that the partnership with the Education Ministry is important, as the Ministry is seeking to go beyond what the police does in addressing the symptoms of criminal gang activities, to tackle the root causes.

 

“In dismantling the gangs, if we do not try to attack the root cause of the problem, then we will always be trying to dismantle gangs,” he said.

 

Noting that there are over 250 active gangs which account for between 60 to 70 per cent of homicides yearly, SSP McLaughlin said he was pleased that the workshop participants will be given the tools and knowledge to help steer students away from gangs and gang activities.

 

“We are not saying that gangs are in schools, but a large number of the students are impacted by gang activities and the gangs are out there recruiting these youngsters and we have to know what we are dealing with in terms of these children coming into school when we see the anti-social behaviours, we must know the signs we are to look for,” he said.

 

Research has shown that gangs recruit children as young as age eight.

 

The six anti-gang workshops scheduled, are being staged by the Safety and Security Unit of the Education Ministry. They are geared towards providing school personnel with the necessary skills to reduce the vulnerability of stakeholders to a range of potential threats.

 

One key issue the workshops will address is the formation of gangs and the effect on home, school, the community and by extension Jamaica.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (second right) emphasises a point to (from left): Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry, Dean-Roy Bernard; Director of Safety and Security in Schools, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Coleridge Minto; Detective Inspector Clifton Green of the Gang Unit of the Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime Branch (C-TOC); and Acting Commander of C-TOC, Superintendent of Police Anthony McLaughlin. Occasion was the launch of the first in a series of anti-gang workshops at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on Friday (May 18).

JIS: The Government has allocated $50 million for the installation of wheelchair ramps at public educational institutions across the island, with the work to start on Labour Day, May 23 at the St Ann’s Bay Infant School in St Ann.

 

State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, said that two schools in each of the island’s 63 constituencies will be retrofitted with ramps to facilitate improved access by children with disabilities.

 

He said that, in total, 126 institutions will be equipped with the amenities for the 2018/19 financial year.

 

Minister Green was speaking to JIS News at the launch of the Nathan Ebanks Foundation’s second annual Family Expo and Special Needs Resource Fair on Tuesday (May 15) at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation in Kingston.

 

The building of wheelchair ramps at public schools is one of the national areas of focus for Labour Day under the theme ‘Ramp it Up – Fix it Up’. The other is on the upgrading of health centres to improve the environment for staff and patients.

 

“We are taking a targeted approach with our Labour Day project, which is a collaboration of the Ministries of Education and Health,” Mr. Green said.

 

“We want to say to our communities that we need to make our educational facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. The drive is to look at our schools, especially those at the lower levels – early-childhood institutions and primary schools,” he added.

 

Data from the National Education Trust (NET), which is the implementing entity for the project to install ramps in schools, indicate that of Jamaica’s 971 public infant, primary and high schools, and over 2,000 early-childhood institutions, only 138 primary and high schools are fitted with ramps.

 

Meanwhile, Founder/President of the Nathan Ebanks Foundation, Christine Staple-Ebanks, is encouraging members of the public to support the fair.

 

A National Child Month calendar activity, the event seeks to connect education, health and social services for children with special needs and their families.

 

“It is with great excitement that we stage this year’s Family Expo and Special Needs Resource Fair to bring together what is available and to connect families with these resources,” Mrs. Staple-Ebanks said.

 

Under the theme ‘Healthy Choices, Healthy Families, Healthy Children’, the fair will be held on May 26 at the Hope Botanical Gardens in Kingston. It will feature booths providing information about community resources to address disabilities and special needs, developmental red flags, child safety and protection, and health and wellness.

 

Free services, including developmental and academic screening, dental care and health checks will be provided as well. Admission is free.

 

The Family Expo and Special Needs Resource Fair involves collaboration with the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism for the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience in Jamaica.

 

CAPTION: State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green (right), speaking at the launch of the second annual Nathan Ebanks Foundation Family Expo and Special Needs Resource Fair on Tuesday (May 15) at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation in Kingston. Looking on is Founder/President of the Nathan Ebanks Foundation, Christine Staple-Ebanks.

JIS: Over 900 board members representing 489 public educational institutions participated in training sessions conducted by the National Council on Education (NCE).

 

The NCE is a statutory body under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information (MOEYI) responsible for the training of school board members, in collaboration with the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL).

 

Executive Director of the NCE, Merris Murray, told JIS News that the training sessions, which were held during the period January to March, are legal requirements under the Education Act and Regulations and the NCE Act of 1993.

 

“The school board members occupy the highest level of authority within schools, and are responsible for the governance machinery,” she noted, adding that it is critical that these persons are aware of what the thrust of the Ministry is and what their responsibilities are in ensuring that schools are effectively governed.

 

The participants were exposed to various aspects of school management and governance, which include Legal and Regulatory Framework Governing School Operations; Administrative/Human Resources Management; Fiduciary Responsibilities with special emphasis on Financial Management; Promoting Positive School Ethos, and Conflict Management and Resolution.

 

Ms. Murray explained that the purpose of the workshops was to increase board members’ knowledge and understanding of educational issues and governance procedures, as well as to equip them with the necessary skills and expertise in order that they may carry out their work more effectively.

 

“We hope that the information shared will not only deepen school board members’ understanding of their role and responsibilities, but that it will also impact student outcomes in a positive way,” she said.

 

According to Ms Murray, the training was well received, and some of the participants indicated that they are now better equipped to go back to their schools to impact the education process.

 

“Some felt that the information shared in terms of promoting positive ethos was very critical, because it is important that they know what their roles and functions are, so that they can carry them out in keeping with the law, and impact student outcomes positively,” she said.

 

Research has shown that where schools are effectively managed and governed, they are better able to meet the needs of students in a holistic way. School boards are made up of representatives from student councils, academia, administrative and clerical staff, principals, church and Trust schools as well as council nominees.

 

The training covered the Ministry’s Regions Three, Four, Five and Six. Come September 2018, school Board members in Regions One and Two will begin training.

 

CAPTION: Executive Director of the National Council on Education (NCE), Merris Murray. 

JIS: Students and staff at the Stimulation-Plus Early Childhood Development Centre, located at Ostend Close, in Rockfort, Eastern Kingston, are now benefiting from the $75.79 million expansion of the institution’s facilities.

 

The development centre which was officially opened during a ceremony held on May 18, is comprised of seven classrooms and bathrooms, administrative offices, sick bay, Physiotherapy room, Caretaker cottage and a Specialized Play Area.

 

Currently, the centre accommodates 126 children with disabilities and with this expansion funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the centre will now be able to increase the facilities enrolment by at least 40 percent in numbers and thus cater to more children with disabilities on the waiting list.

 

Speaking at the opening, State Minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Zavia Mayne said the facility is a symbol of the Government’s commitment to children, especially those with development disabilities.

 

“Each of our children deserve access to a learning environment that caters to (their) total development, a learning environment which allows each one to unlock his/her potential,” Mr. Mayne said.

 

He added that the Ministry will continue to support children with special needs at every stage of their educational journey, while at the same time equipping their parents, guardians, and caregivers.

 

“I implore parents to support the Early Stimulation Plus staff, and to reinforce what is done throughout the day, in your respective homes,” the State Minister said.

 

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, and Chief of Operations at the IDB, Adriana La Valley, were among officials who participated in the ceremony.

 

CAPTION: State Minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Zavia Mayne (right), is assisted by Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (2nd right), in cutting the ribbon to officially open the newest building of the Stimulation Plus Early Childhood Development Centre located at Ostend Close, in Rockfort, Eastern Kingston during a ceremony on May 18. Sharing in the moment from left are: Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Audrey Deer Williams, and Director, Early Stimulation Programme, Antonica Gunter-Gayle. Also pictured are students of the school and other officials.

JIS: Following months of deliberations, the island’s teachers have accepted the Government’s four-year wage offer.

 

The new Heads of Agreement for the 2017 to 2021 contract period was signed between the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) and the Government during a ceremony at the National Heroe Circle offices of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, on Wednesday (May 16).

 

Portfolio Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, said the Government values the nation’s teachers and the role they play in the society.

 

“The teachers of Jamaica represent a foundation in our society. We have all been influenced by teachers who have played crucial roles in our own individual lives, and we wouldn’t be where we are without our teachers,” he said.

 

Dr. Clarke said he is pleased that an agreement was reached that all involved were comfortable with.

 

President of the JTA, Georgia Waugh Richards, said she is pleased that all parties have come to an agreement after a tough negotiating process.

 

“We had brought the offer to the teachers of Jamaica, and we all agreed that the four-year contract period would hold, but there are other items of fringe benefits that had seen improvements, and based on that, the teachers decided that it was now time to accept,” she said.

 

She noted however, that she could not disclose the new package until the nation’s teachers were first briefed on the final agreement.

 

“We have listened to the voices of the teachers of Jamaica and we have acted according to their wishes, and so we look forward to future collaborations and discussions as they relate to the well-being of the teachers of Jamaica,” she said.

 

In the meantime, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dean-Roy Bernard, said he is pleased with the outcome of the negotiations.

 

“We have done very well in negotiating on behalf of the welfare of our beloved almost 25,000 teachers, and this is a signal moment and we are happy to be part of it,” he said.

 

The teachers have agreed to wage increases over the agreed period of five per cent in the first year; two and four per cent in the second and third years, respectively; and five per cent in the final year.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke (second left), shakes the hand of President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Georgia Waugh Richards, after they signed a new Heads of Agreement for the nation’s teachers for the 2017 to 2021 contract period. The agreement was signed during a ceremony at the National Heroes Circle offices of the Finance Ministry on Wednesday (May 16). Also pictured (from left) are Minister without Portfolio in the Finance Ministry, Hon. Fayval Williams; and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dean-Roy Bernard.

JIS: The Government is in discussions with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as it relates to the buildout of five of 17 new schools, in order to remove 40 from the shift system.

 

Speaking at the launch of the Support for Sustainability of the Education Sector Transformation Plan, at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on May 15, Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, said that a proposal in furtherance of the buildout of the schools is before the Public Investment Management Secretariat (PIMSEC).

 

An institution of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, PIMSEC was established to manage and administer all government projects in Jamaica, regardless of the source of funding, the type of procurement or implementation method used.

 

“I must also happily report that there are several local and international interests that have approached us in terms of wanting to help us to build out (these) particular infrastructure,” the Minister said.

 

Additionally, Mr. Reid noted that “there are even persons willing to give us a moratorium to facilitate this”.

 

The Transformation Plan is designed to support the continued improvement in the performance of the education sector, in order to meet the demands of the country’s development goals.

 

It consists of three to four areas to sustain the gains made in the education sector to date, and addresses remaining challenges.

 

These are the strengthening of the early-childhood modernisation initiatives centred on innovation in teaching, development of curriculum and materials, and regulation of the sector.

 

It also includes support to assist teachers’ colleges to strengthen internal quality assurance and capacity building for teacher education in numeracy and science, and technical support to the Division of School Services. The fourth component involves an audit to ensure the money is properly used.

 

Funded by the Embassy of Japan in Jamaica in the sum of US$500,000, the IDB will have responsibility for managing the finance on behalf of the Education, Youth and Information Ministry.

 

Senator Reid endorsed the technical cooperation grant, noting that there needs to be continuity and, by extension, sustainability in the plans for the education sector.

 

Meanwhile, in his remarks, Japanese Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Hiromasa Yamazaki, noted that investing in education at all levels is important to the overall development of the country and its people.

 

Mr. Yamazaki informed that over the past decades, Japan has been supporting Jamaica in the area of education under the Grant Assistance of Grassroots Human Security Project, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

 

For her part, Chief of Operations at the IDB, Adriana La Valley, said that “education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to effectively change the world”.

 

“We continue to provide support to initiatives that will foster continued improvement in transformation of educational outcomes. That is why we continue to collaborate with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information to fill development gaps in the sector,” she said.

 

CAPTION: Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (right), in discussion with Chief of Operations at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Adriana La Valley (centre) and the Japanese Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Hiromasa Yamazaki, at the launch of the Support for Sustainability of the Education Sector Transformation Plan, at the Courtyard by Marriot Hotel in New Kingston on May 15

JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information’s inaugural Higher Education Summit concluded on Friday (May 11), with production of a ‘Declaration on higher education in Jamaica.’

 

The document, which emerged out of two days of deliberations by stakeholders at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston, is expected to guide the development of legislation on governance, quality assurance and regulation of tertiary education.

 

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Ruel Reid, who spoke to JIS NEWS after accepting the declaration from Chairman of the Higher Education Summit Committee, Dr. Dameon Black, said it will be integral in transforming the way tertiary education is delivered in Jamaica.

 

“This is very historic because it is setting the platform for how Jamaica is going to position itself to develop its human resources at a very high level. So, we can have the critical mass of workers, who are trained and aligned to the areas of national priority, the areas where the economy is going, the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas [and] the industrial areas,” he said.

 

“This is what this forum and summit have been about. It’s solving our human resource problem, resolving the issues in the tertiary education sector and planting Jamaica firmly on a path for serious growth and development in the future,” he added.

 

Mr. Reid said he is satisfied that the document, which came out of the suggestions by the various stakeholders, will help chart a course for students to have better access to education at universities.

 

Senator Reid told JIS NEWS that the decision to stage the summit was to address issues relating to the management and regulation of the higher education sector.

 

“We’ve been talking about quality assurance. We’ve been talking about registration, regulation, access, financing of the tertiary sector [and] how, as a Ministry, we are organised so that we can have all these things done,” he pointed out.

 

“So, it was important to have full consultation among the stakeholders, get wide participation of these varying interest groups, and so we come to one consensus, which is what this declaration is about; how we move the education sector forward through tertiary education,” he noted.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left) accepting the Declaration on Higher Education in Jamaica from Chairman, Higher Education Summit Committee, Dr. Dameon Black, at the conclusion of the two-day summit at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on Friday (May 11).

JIS: The Government is looking to create an Integrated Higher Education System for Jamaica (IHES-J) aimed at better aligning training to industry demands.

 

Portfolio Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, made the disclosure while addressing the opening of the Ministry’s inaugural Higher Education Summit on May 10 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

 

“This integration is expected to be supported with policies and systems to support greater autonomy, greater alignment to industry and a flexible approach to funding to support the needs of the institutions, while ensuring that students are being trained in areas that are required by industry and will ultimately impact the economy,” he said.

 

He said that despite deliberations over the years, limited progress has been made in addressing the need for greater integration of education and training.

 

“Our hope is that coming out of these discussions (at the summit) we will be able to agree on the needed and significant steps forward together,” he said.

 

The two-day summit, under the theme: ‘Education 4.0: Disrupting Tradition…Transforming Jamaica,’ provided a platform for stakeholders to discuss and provide feedback on a number of issues critical to the development of the higher education sector.

 

From the consultations, the Ministry will seek to establish a declaration, which will encapsulate the core principles around which the Government will be able to define and pass legislation with regards to matters of governance, quality assurance and regulation of higher education.

 

In his address, Senator Reid highlighted the importance of higher education to the development of the country.

 

He said that among the national imperatives are: to increase the percentage of eligible cohort holding the minimum of a bachelor’s degree from 15 per cent to 80 per cent; remove barriers to access; and ensure that institutions are responsive to the changing dynamics and requirements of the labour market.

 

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dean-Roy Bernard, in his contribution, stressed that a key objective of the deliberations is to ensure that higher education is supporting the economic growth agenda.

 

“We hear many times of the 67 per cent of our workforce that are untrained and uncertified. This summit is to ensure that we are reducing those numbers rapidly,” he said.

 

Over the two days, experts in education and industry made presentations on a range of topics including: ‘Higher Education, Governance and the Oversight Framework’; ‘Autonomy within the Higher Education Sector’; ‘Funding the Higher Education Sector’; and ‘Relevance, Innovation and Leadership.’

 

Among those in attendance were members of external quality assurance body, University Council of Jamaica (UCJ); regulatory body, Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission (J-TEC); the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ) and their member institutions; and student representatives.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, speaking at the opening of the inaugural Higher Education Summit on Thursday, May 10 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. Observed under the theme: ‘Education 4.0: Disrupting Tradition…Transforming Jamaica’, the two-day summit aimed to provide a platform for stakeholders within the higher education sector to discuss and provide feedback on a number of issues critical to the development of the sector.