JIS: Beginning in May, the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Information will be training more teachers in restorative justice practices, in keeping with strategies to improve safety and security in schools.

 

This is according to Director of Safety and Security in Schools, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Coleridge Minto, who informed that the targeted 500 teachers will be trained in batches of 100 over the next six to 12 months.

 

“Restorative justice is really an alternative and looking at another method of treating with when you have conflicts in the schools, and so the objective of the Ministry is to ensure that we train at least 500 persons in the next couple of months,” he said.

 

He told JIS News that the initiative, which has already seen 200 primary- and high-school teachers being trained, is in partnership with the Ministry of Justice.

 

“In the long-term, over the next three to five years, there should be at least three or four persons trained in every school in restorative justice practices, which is a new methodology we are using,” he said.

 

He noted that while the focus will be on the 171 high schools, training will also be extended to primary and junior-high institutions.

 

Part funding for the exercise will be provided under the US$3-million Safe Schools Project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

CAPTION: Director of Safety and Security in Schools in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Coleridge Minto.

JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information is collaborating with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in the staging of an inaugural Anti-Gang Week, aimed at steering youth away from criminal activities.

 

It is part of a special partnership involving the Ministry and JCF’s Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) to engage at-risk youth using a more proactive approach.

 

Details of this initiative and other areas of collaboration were discussed at a high-level strategy meeting involving portfolio Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, and other Ministry officials; and Head of C-TOC, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Fitz Bailey, at the Ministry’s National Heroes Circle location on Monday (April 16).

 

ACP Bailey told JIS News that the date for the event is yet to be finalised, but noted that the team is “looking at sometime in May”.

 

He informed that the week will be focused on activities that promote diversion from gangs, and will not only target youth in school but also at-risk youth outside of the school system.

 

“We want to divert people from engaging in things that are not consistent with the law and proper morals and principles. We believe that if we can reach our children… we will go a far way. It is about changing the psyche of the youth,” he said.

 

Director of Safety and Security in Schools, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Coleridge Minto, told JIS News that this preventive measure – targeting young persons who are at-risk and potentially at-risk – is necessary, given research that shows that gangs recruit children as young as age eight.

 

The week of activities, which is expected to engage non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the church, civic groups and other stakeholders, will entail town hall meetings, as well as sensitisation sessions in schools.

 

This partnership, for which an agreement is to be signed soon, is one of several areas of collaboration between the Ministry and JCF.

 

Other areas include public education on the responsible use of social media, other anti-gang initiatives, and special presentations by C-TOC to school officials.

 

The activities are to be funded under the US$3-million Safe Schools Project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid.

JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will be implementing an initial one-year campaign to encourage more Jamaicans to embrace mathematics.

 

The objective is to promote the importance of mathematics to national development and change attitudes towards the subject.

 

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dean-Roy Bernard, made the disclosure at the official launch of National Mathematics Week on Monday (April 16) at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean, St. Andrew.

 

Mathematics Week is being observed from April 15 to 20, under the theme ‘Math Counts’.

 

Mr. Bernard noted that the main objective of Mathematics Week “is to help to change the attitude and views of students, teachers and, of course, the wider society about the subject”.

 

He said that the Mathematics Unit, through its public education initiatives, workshops and seminars, is working to make the subject more appealing and reinforce the idea that maths counts.

 

The Permanent Secretary noted that while there have been some improvements at the primary level, the current levels of performance in the subject remain a concern.

 

“So, to address these concerns, we are broadening the programmes with the aim of changing long-standing fears and misconceptions about the subject,” he said.

 

For his part, Portfolio Minister, Senator the Hon Ruel Reid, noted that the Ministry continues to work to improve performance in mathematics at all levels of the school system.

 

He noted that the National Standards Curriculum, which is being introduced from grades one to nine, is designed to facilitate greater levels of application in learning, with emphasis on project-based and problem-solving activities to facilitate enhanced learning outcomes.

 

Senator Reid said that at the primary level, the Ministry has recorded improved performance of students in the Grade Four Numeracy Test as well as in the Grade Six Assessment Test (GSAT).

 

“Our grade-four averages moved from 60 per cent in 2016 to 67 per cent in 2017. In GSAT, we have moved from 59 per cent to 63 per cent, and for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) from 49 per cent to 52 per cent,” he informed.

 

Activities for Mathematics Week include a Maths Road Show to be held on April 17 at the Neville Antonio Park in Port Antonio, Portland, under the theme ‘Maths in your World’.

 

The event will engage members of the public in identifying areas in their everyday life where they are using maths.

 

The main event for the week will be the staging of a National Mathematics Exposition on Thursday, April 19 at the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Mona campus from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 

The expo is intended to provide students, teachers and parents with an opportunity to interface with maths in the real world.

 

The day’s activities will include a maths extravaganza from noon to 2:00 p.m., which will feature cultural performances under the ‘Math Counts’ theme.

 

Several exhibitors will be on hand to demonstrate how maths applies to their profession or the industry in which they operate.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (second left), exchanges pleasantries with Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dean-Roy Bernard, at the official launch of National Mathematics Week on Monday (April 16) at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean, St. Andrew. Sharing the moment are National Mathematics Coordinator, Dr. Tamika Benjamin (left); and Communications Officer, Shipping Association of Jamaica, Monique Morrison. Mathematics Week is being held from April 15 to 20 under the theme ‘Math Counts’.

GLEANER: State Minister for Education, Youth and Information Floyd Green is imploring more Jamaicans, including those in the diaspora, to become involved by offering more scholarships to needy Jamaican students.

 

“Sometimes we may see it just as a way to help an individual, when, in fact, we are really helping our country, especially when the scholarship is tied to education,” said Green, who has responsibility for the youth portfolio.

 

He was speaking ahead of the publication of The Gleaner’s popular Scholarships To Go feature, the 12th edition of which is due out on May 1. It’s a must-have not only for students, but for parents and guardians who are looking to further their children’s education.

 

The indispensable role scholarships now play in Jamaica’s education system is not lost on Green.

 

“Scholarships are a very critical part of our educational system. Many students and their parents find it difficult to move from one level of the system to the next because of a lack of financial and other resources,” the junior minister observed.

 

The member of parliament (MP) for St Elizabeth South West told The Gleaner that as elected officials, MPs are oftentimes faced with families that are unable to adequately fund their children’s education.

 

“So for us (the Ministry of Education), where you can have scholarships or where they have access to scholarships, it goes a far way in helping them to achieve their dreams,” said Green.

  

… Scholarships A Great Way To Reward Excellence – Green

  

While stressing that for those who are in significant need, scholarships are “extremely important”, Junior Education Minister Floyd Green says they also serve other purposes.

 

“A scholarship is a great way to reward excellence and encourage our young people,” Green said.

 

He noted that many of the scholarships that are awarded each year, scores of which are listed in Scholarships To Go, are not based solely on financial need.

 

“You have to be a high performer, so in this regard, the prospect of gaining a scholarship motivates students to do well and to work hard. When somebody gets a scholarship, it becomes a crowning moment … so it is a very important part of our education system,” Green reiterated.

  

STRATEGIC SELECTIONS

  

In terms of the Ministry of Education and the scholarships it awards to promising students each year, he said the ministry was becoming more strategic.

 

Green said the ministry was now using scholarships to “help to influence selection, career paths and choices”.

 

“We recognise that there are some areas where we have deficiencies in relation to having trained personnel, and we are also trying to use scholarships to incentivise those areas, for example, as a way to attract more mathematics and science teachers,” the state minister explained.

 

He said the ministry also looks at labour market demands and trends to justify granting scholarships in particular fields of endeavour.

 

“A scholarship, for us, is a very important tool in relation to helping our young people to achieve their goals and in relation to driving a policy regarding ensuring that training is aligned to market.”

 

Meanwhile, the state minister heaped praises on the individuals and companies that award scholarships each year, sometimes at great expense to themselves and their organisations.

 

With regard to companies, Green said. “It’s an important part of their corporate responsibility to give back through scholarships”.

 

To those thinking about offering a scholarship, Green had some advice: “I would want to encourage more of our people to get involved. It does not take much to establish a scholarship and to work with an educational institution to identify children who are in need,” he said.

 

“If more of our people took that on board, then we would have more of our young people being able to complete and fulfil their educational journey … .”

 

CAPTION: Earl Jarrett (second right), general manager of Jamaica National Building Society and chairman of JN Foundation, and Floyd Green, minister of state in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, pin JN Scholars awardees at a Jamaica National Foundation Scholarship Awards function in 2016.

 

JIS: The National Child Month Committee (NCMC) is calling on citizens to provide a supportive and positive environment for the nation’s children as it prepares to observe Child Month in May under the theme ‘A.F.F.I.R.M Me!’.

 

Chairman of the NCMC, Dr. Pauline Mullings, explained that A.F.F.I.R.M is an acronym for “Acknowledge me, (Be) Friend Me, Favour Me, Influence me positively, Respect Me, and Motivate Me” and emerged out of calls by children for adults to recognise and validate their worth.

 

She said that “children need an environment that fosters love, care, friendship and appreciation, and they also desire from us as adults to be role models, who will impact their lives in a positive way”.

 

“We must, therefore, use the God-given opportunity afforded to us to shape the lives of our young ones through our words and actions. Words are powerful and actions are just as potent, and what we sow today, what we speak over them helps to shape their destiny and, by extension, the destiny of this nation,” she added.

 

Dr. Mullings was addressing the media launch of Child Month at GraceKennedy’s head office in downtown Kingston on April 11.

 

The calendar of activities for Child Month includes a national church service on Sunday, May 6 at the William Knibb Memorial Baptist Church in Falmouth, Trelawny, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

 

National Children’s Day will be observed on Friday, May 18 with special activities for children at Half-Way Tree, downtown Kingston, and Montego Bay; and a National Day of Prayer and Fasting will be held on Wednesday, May 30 at the May Pen New Testament Church of God from 10:00 a.m.to 2:00 p.m.

 

The observance will go beyond May, to include the Youth Outstanding Academic Achievement Awards Ceremony to recognise students from non-traditional high schools, which will be held on Wednesday, June 27 at The Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston.

 

A Youth Forum is scheduled for Friday, November 2 at the St. Andrew Parish Church Hall, 16 Ellesmere Road, Kingston 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

 

In addition to the activities organised by the committee, the entity will be partnering with the Jamaica Fire Brigade in its campaign ‘Jamaica’s Future is on Fire… Mek Wi Fix It’, which aims to get children to acknowledge fire safety practices and extend these to friends and families.

 

The NCMC has joined forces with the coordinators of the Family Expo and Special Resource Needs Fair, which will be held on Saturday, May 26.

 

The NCMC Chairman is imploring groups and individuals who are staging events during May to celebrate children, and to register with the committee so that there can be greater visibility of projects and activities.

 

“We are aiming to have a registry where we know exactly all of the persons who are involved, all the groups who are involved, what is it that you are doing for children,” Dr. Mullings said.

 

She is urging persons to contact Social Media Coordinator, Ruth Lawrence, at 466-6372, or email [email protected] for further details.

 

Sponsors of Child Month include GraceKennedy Ltd., National Baking Company Ltd, Kingston Bookshop, RJRGLEANER Communications Group, National Health Fund, General Accident Insurance Company Ltd., Island Grill Ltd., Jamaica Producers Group Ltd., and Restaurants of Jamaica.

 

CAPTION: Chairman of the National Child Month Committee (NCMC), Dr. Pauline Mullings, addresses the media launch of Child Month on Wednesday (April 11) at GraceKennedy’s head office in downtown Kingston.

 

JIS: Thousands of students from primary and secondary institutions and mathematics enthusiasts will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in all things related to the subject from April 15 to 20.

 

During the period, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will host the fifth staging of Mathematics Week under the theme ‘Math Counts.’.

 

Addressing a JIS Think Tank on Tuesday (April 10), National Mathematics Coordinator at the Ministry, Dr. Tamika Benjamin, said that during the week, “students, teachers and the wider public will have the opportunity to engage in activities that are geared towards improving attitudes towards mathematics”.

 

Activities will kick off with a national church service on Sunday, April 15 at the Life Centre Tabernacle, Church of God of Prophecy in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. This will be followed by the official launch on Monday, April 16 at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC), St. Andrew.

 

On Tuesday, April 17 a Maths Road Show will be held at the Neville Antonio Park in Port Antonio, Portland, under the theme: ‘Maths in your World’.

 

Dr. Benjamin explained that the event will seek to engage members of the public in identifying areas in their everyday life where they are using maths.

 

The main event for the week will be the staging of a National Mathematics Exposition on Thursday, April 19 at the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Mona campus from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 

The expo is intended to provide students, teachers and parents with an opportunity to interface with maths in the real world.

 

At the expo, the Ministry will collaborate with the teacher-training institutions to mount concept-based booths designed around topics in the maths curriculum.

 

Students will have the opportunity to interface with the ideas and the principles in a fun and engaging way.

 

The day’s activities will include a maths extravaganza from noon to 2:00 p.m., which will feature cultural performances under the ‘Math Counts’ theme.

 

Several exhibitors will be on hand to demonstrate how maths applies to their profession or the industry in which they operate.

 

These include Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), HEART Trust/NTA, Shipping Association of Jamaica, Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) and the Meteorological Service of Jamaica.

 

Dr. Benjamin is encouraging schools within the respective educational regions to organise their own activities on Friday, April 20 that place emphasis on ‘Math Counts’.

 

CAPTION: National Mathematics Coordinator, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Tamika Benjamin, provides details on activities for Mathematics Week 2018, during a JIS Think Tank on April 10. Maths Week will be observed from April 15 to 20 under the theme ‘Maths Counts’.

JIS: The island’s tourism product has been boosted with the graduation of the first cohort of 150 certified hospitality workers from the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI).

 

The JCTI, which was created to increase access to certification for recent graduates as well as workers in the industry, saw, for the first time, persons being accredited as Hospitality Supervisors and in Hospitality Industry Analytics. Individuals also received the American Culinary Federation certification.

 

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, said the JCTI is part of the five-pillar growth strategy of the Ministry to provide “new products, new markets, new partnerships, new investments and the renewal of human capital”.

 

“The strategy for realising the outcome from those pillars is training, building the human capacity (and) creating the energy and the innovation that is required to put Jamaica’s product at the highest level of appreciation,” he said.

 

He was speaking at the inaugural graduation ceremony, which took place at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James, on Sunday (April 8).

 

Mr. Bartlett noted that tourism is no longer a seasonal industry and “we are no longer talking about employing persons for three months and six months because the season comes and the season goes. We are now an all-year-round economic activity with a team of workers who must be fully certified with the capacity to produce at the highest level of competence 24/7”.

 

He told the graduates that they have been placed on a career path that will take them from certified supervisors to becoming “managers, managing directors, and eventually owners yourself of hotels across Jamaica”.

 

The Minister also announced that the JCTI will become a part of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) Department of Tourism Innovation.

 

This, he explained, will enhance the results of other initiatives, such as the Team Jamaica training course, which are all aimed at professionalising the industry.

 

Meanwhile, Minister Bartlett said a holistic approach will be taken to ensure that a new path is forged where training and competency building will begin at the high-school level.

 

In so doing, he said $10 million will be made available from the TEF in September to establish a curriculum in high schools for the certification of students in hospitality.

 

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, in his remarks at the ceremony, hailed the partnership between the Tourism and Education Ministries to provide training and certification for workers in the hospitality sector.

 

He noted that the move is also in line with the Ministry’s goal to ensure that “by age 30, all Jamaicans should hold some form of certification”.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (8th left, front row) and Minister of Education, Youth, and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (12th left, front row), are with the first cohort of participants to be certified under the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI) programme. The inaugural graduation ceremony took place at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, Rose Hall, St. James, on Sunday, April 8.

JIS: Three persons, including a ward of the State, are being considered for national honours for their acts of bravery during the fire at the Walker’s Place of Safety earlier this year that took the lives of two children and destroyed the Lyndhurst Crescent-based facility.

 

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, made the disclosure at Monday’s (April 9) memorial service for Oneika McGrae and Anna Kaye Moreland, at the Faith Tabernacle Shiloh Apostolic Church on Lyndhurst Road.

 

He said that 18-year-old ward Selana Reid, along with a caregiver at the home, and a young man, who saw the fire and came to assist, have been recommended for the Award for Gallantry at this year’s National Honours and Awards Ceremony to be held at King’s House in October.

 

He noted that the three saved lives by waking up the children, who were asleep, and helping them to escape the blaze.

 

Scores of persons packed the church for the memorial service, including portfolio Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, who read the first lesson, representatives of childcare agencies, family, friends and well-wishers.

 

The State Minister, in expressing sorrow at the loss of lives, said he is heartened at the outpouring of love and support from the public in the wake of the tragedy.

 

He noted that $9 million has already been donated for the rebuilding of the home in addition to other support for the children.

 

Mr. Green urged Jamaicans to honour the lives of those who perished by doing more for children who are in need of care and protection.

 

Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Peter Phillips, who is Member of Parliament for East Central St. Andrew where the home is located, said “there is much goodness around us”, and this was evident in how the community came together to assist on the night of the fire.

 

“The best of them came out, and they did what they could do for those children,” Dr. Phillips said, while calling for additional public support for the reconstruction of the home.

 

Several other agencies and community persons addressed the function, including Director of Children and Family Programmes at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Audrey Budhi.

 

Pastor at the Greater Grace Temple churches, Bishop Dr. C.A. Holdsworth, who contributed $10,000 towards the rebuilding of the facility, charged the congregation to “seize this opportunity to do something positive” for the nation’s children.

 

CAPTION: Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green (right), places a flower in honour of two wards of the State who perished in a fire earlier this year at the Walker’s Place of Safety in Kingston. Waiting to make a floral tribute is Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dean-Roy Bernard. Occasion was a memorial service held in honour of the children on Monday (April 9) at the Faith Tabernacle Shiloh Apostolic Church on Lyndhurst Road.

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has called on unattached youth living in Zones of Special Operations (ZOSOs) to register for skills-based programmes the Government is offering.

 

Speaking with young people during a tour of the ZOSO in Denham Town, Kingston, to “ascertain the ZOSO’s effect on children, students and youth in the area”, Mr. Reid said he wants to reach the unattached youth living in the community, especially those who need jobs and training.

 

“Some of the social problems that we have in our society is lack of access to education and training, and we are bringing training to them or taking them from where they are to where the training is,” Mr. Reid told JIS News in an interview.

 

“We are here for them. We’re going to take some training to them, and those we can take and place elsewhere, we’ll take [them],” he added.

 

He said the ZOSO aims to bring about transformation, especially in the lives of inner-city youth, in which the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information is playing a pivotal role.

 

“This is the beginning of a whole transformation for our inner-city communities, and we want to replicate this right across the country. The long-term development of Jamaica has to be built on training and education, access of quality education for all and meeting the needs of the people where they are,” Mr. Reid said.

 

“I have a schedule to tour the ZOSO, because the strategy is [to] clear, hold and build, and part of the long-term building plan is to make sure that the education and training systems are available to the young people and, indeed, all the people of these communities,” he explained.

 

One of the youth from Denham Town, whom Minister Reid said he was very concerned about, is former head boy of Vauxhall High School, Travis Morrison, who lives in Denham Town and is not enrolled in a programme or employed.

 

“We’ve been able to meet individuals like Travis Morrison, who has over 20 subjects [including CSEC and CAPE]. I’m happy to tell him that we will try and get him into the Caribbean Maritime University based on the programme that they have,” Mr. Reid told JIS News.

 

For his part, Travis said he was happy to meet the Minister and share his story with him.

 

“I feel good and I am looking forward to the programme the Minister will enrol me in. I feel good that he came to hear our concerns and will try to help us,” Travis told JIS News.

 

The Minister said skills-based programmes will not be forced on unattached youth; instead, members of the Ministry, along with other Government agencies such as HEART Trust/NTA, will be listening to the needs of the youth living in ZOSO areas, and enrolling them accordingly into programmes.

 

“We are going to do our due diligence and surveys within the community to find out exactly what are their training needs. We’re not going to just prescribe but [also] look at their abilities, interests and take them up to the level we require, [and] we are going to make sure that the training is available,” he said.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left), speaks with children and a guardian during his tour of the Zone of Special Operations in Denham Town on Wednesday (April 4). At right is Assistant Superintendent Coleridge Minto, Director of the Safety and Security in Schools Programme in the Ministry.

JIS: The Hazard Skills Training Centre in Clarendon, which provides certification for residents in collaboration with the Heart Trust /NTA, now has a new, more spacious home on the compound of the McLaren Engineering Company in Palmers Cross in the parish.

 

McLaren Engineering, which is a family-operated establishment, offered the space for lease for 100 years at a cost of $1.

 

The announcement was made by Chairman of the company, Michael McLaren, at a function on Friday (April 6) to hand over the building, which has been named the Wesley E. McLaren Hazard Skills Training Centre in honour of its late founder.

 

State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, welcomed the move, noting that with the handover of the building, the company is making a valuable contribution to national development.

 

In a speech read by Senior Education Officer in the Ministry, Floyd Kelly, Mr. Green said this will help the Ministry in its thrust to assist more young persons to acquire readily employable skills for the world of work through technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

 

“Well-functioning TVET systems are best-placed to train the skilled workforce to address our socio-economic development challenges. The vision of Mr. Wesley McLaren for a skills training centre was well informed, and well intentioned. It is now up to all of us, working in partnership, to expand on the vision and work that has been started,” he said.

 

He called on other private businesses to fully support such training programmes through direct sponsorship, and allowing for apprenticeship-type attachments.

 

National TVET Director in the Education Ministry, Denworth Finnikin, who was the guest speaker at the event, commended the McLaren family for the initiative ,which he said is “worthy of emulation…where private sector and government can come together to ensure we build a prosperous nation”.

 

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon, Hon. Michael Henry; Custos of Clarendon, William Shagoury; and Mayor of May Pen, Councillor Winston Maragh, also welcomed the initiative of the McLaren family.

 

The skills training centre, which was established in 1997, has trained over 2,000 persons in welding, cosmetology, electrical installation, food preparation, and hospitality service.

 

The partnership with the Heart Trust/NTA began in 2010, and since then, other partners have come on board, including the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP), Social Development Commission (SDC), Clarendon Crime Prevention Committee, Clarendon Parish Development Committee, Mac Rebuilders Limited and other private-sector partners.

 

CAPTION: Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon, Hon. Michael Henry (right), admires the work of welding students of the Wesley E. McLaren Hazard Skills Training Centre (from left) Dennis Morrison; and Chrissy Grant. Occasion was a handover ceremony for the Wesley E. McLaren Hazard Skills Training Centre on the grounds of the McLaren Engineering Company in Clarendon on Friday (April 6).