JIS: The Government will stand surety for tertiary-level students having difficulty identifying a guarantor for a loan from the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB), under the condition that they are enrolled at a teacher-training institution and are willing to be bonded for five years.

 

This was disclosed by Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, while speaking at a reception in honour of G.C. Foster College athletes, at the institution in St. Catherine on September 21.

 

Mr. Reid noted that while the Government is unable to offer free education beyond grade 13, it is committed to assisting tertiary-level students with accessing funding for their studies.

 

“What we are guaranteeing is that through the SLB or other programmes, such as Jamaica Values and Attitude Project (JAMVAT), the support from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, and other donors in terms of bursaries and scholarships, that you are funded for your tertiary education,” he said.

 

In the meantime, the Minister congratulated the athletes being honoured during the ceremony. They had participated in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in London this year.

 

He noted that they are “outstanding ambassadors for Jamaica and G.C. Foster College”, pointing out that despite the challenges faced, they represented the country well “and we are very proud of all of you”.

 

Ten athletes from the G.C. Foster College/Sprintec Track Club were selected for the Jamaican team to the IAAF World Championships. The group formed the largest representation from any one institution in the country.

 

The group, dubbed the ‘Super 10’ by the college, was responsible for two of the four medals won by the Jamaica team at the championship. All 10 members made it through to at least the semi-final round of the event.

 

Ristananna Tracey got a bronze medal in the 400 m hurdles; while Jura Levy and Natasha Morrison formed part of the 4x100m women’s relay team that copped a bronze medal for Jamaica.

 

Other members of the team were Anastasia LeRoy, Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby, Demish Gayle, Rasheed Dwyer, Ronda Whyte, Shashalee Forbes, and Yanique Thompson.

 

Another four personnel who accompanied the team were also honoured. They are Maurice Wilson Sean-Michael Samuels, Nathaneal Davis, and Romario Barrett.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (second left), raps with G.C. Foster College/Sprintec Track Club athletes during a reception held in their honour at the campus of the G.C. Foster College in St. Catherine on Thursday (September 21). The athletes (from left) are Anneisha McLaughlin-Whilby; Demish Gayle; and Anastasia Le-Roy. They were among 10 athletes who were presented with plaques in recognition of their performance during the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in London this year.

JIS: Within the next three years, 42 schools will be taken off the shift system, says Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid.

 

Making his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate on September 22, the Minister noted that 13 of these will be removed from the shift during this academic year.

 

He said during the past year, the Ministry moved to ensure that schools in most urgent need of repairs were assisted ahead of the start of the new academic year.

 

The Minister pointed out that 172 schools have been identified to benefit from the Schools Maintenance Project at just over $554.3 million. “Fifty schools are in contract at a value of $174.3 million,” he added.

 

In the meantime, Senator Reid said the Ministry has allocated $76 million in the 2017/18 budget for the removal of pit latrines from 35 schools.

 

The initiative falls under the Ministry’s Sanitation Programme. There are 42 schools that still utilise pit latrines as the only means of faecal disposal.

 

He said the remaining seven schools will be completed through partnership with Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund in the current financial year.

 

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

JIS: Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, is urging school administrators to submit early the projection of furniture and other resources they will require for the reopening of school,  in order to facilitate timely procurement and delivery.

 

He noted that several schools experiencing shortfalls in furniture stock have waited until a few weeks before the start of the academic year to indicate their need.  He said that ideally, notice should be given in December of the previous year.

 

“It means that whatever (you) need for the new school year… (you) should be in a position to be articulating to the Ministry by the end of December each year and not wait until the last minute,” he pointed out.

 

Senator Reid was speaking at the Ministry’s Region Two town hall meeting held on Wednesday (September 20) at St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church in Annotto Bay, St. Mary.

 

He is also encouraging administrators to serve sufficient notice where they propose to increase student enrolment and need additional furniture to accommodate them.

 

He explained that the early notification is necessary to prevent disruptions in the procurement process and delays in the delivery of items by the manufacturers.

 

“We don’t want a situation where you have increased the population of the school and then say you are waiting on the Ministry for furniture… because we would have to redo the whole process to reorder, and it’s going to take some time for the manufacturer to deliver. So, let’s work together and make sure that whatever the needs are (you) get the information to the Ministry in good time,” he stressed.

 

Meanwhile, Senator Reid advised that the Ministry plans to establish a furniture-maintenance programme in schools.

 

He said the Ministry will be working closely with its regional offices each term to track and identify desks and chairs that can be fixed.

 

“We want to make sure that you always have adequate furniture and that you get them long before school reopens in September,” Senator Reid said.

 

The meeting culminated Senator Reid’s visit to several schools in St. Mary comprising the Ministry’s Region Two as part of his tour of institutions to mark the start of the 2017/18 academic year.

 

Among these were Devon Pen Primary School, St. Mary Technical High School; Annotto Bay High School, and Enfield Primary School.

 

CAPTION: Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, looks on as five-year-old Devon Primary and Infant School students, Quewayne Davis (centre) and Jayquon McIntosh, demonstrate their writing skills. Occasion was a visit to the institution on Wednesday (September 20), during the Minister’s tour of institutions in St. Mary.

OBSERVER: NOTING the important role the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) plays in the service delivery of education to the country, Minister of Education Senator Ruel Reid has indicated that he intends to have a look at how his ministry can assist the work of the bureau.

 

He pointed out that currently the SLB does not fall under his remit as education, youth and information minister, but the partnership within the governance structure encourages that he work with the institution.

 

“Our point is that as the Ministry of Education and Youth we need to be integrally driving the policies that govern the operations and execution of the Students’ Loan Bureau to assist the beneficiaries, which are the students,” he said.

 

In responding to questions of the concerns of students regarding the ease of doing business with the bureau, the minister said: “I hope to have further dialogue — we’ve had preliminary meetings — to see how we can improve the service delivery [at the SLB]. People have this bad impression of the public sector that we’re not customer-centric or we’re not customer service- driven, and I am very high on customer service. So I’d love to see that as part of our transformation, and I believe in the context of the public sector transformation and reform, the Students’ Loan Bureau must be seen as that exemplar of that excellence in the service delivery.”

 

Last year April the Government, in a move to ease the burden on students, introduced a reducing balance calculation on repayment amounts. This was aimed at passing on significant savings for beneficiaries, compared to the previous add-on interest rate. The monthly amounts payable by beneficiaries under reduced balancing method will be reduced by approximately 28 per cent.

 

“We are largely funded by the taxpayers through the percentage taken off from the proceeds of the education tax, and I know they’re trying to pay off some of the debt they had before, and to that end we even want to accelerate that so as to streamline funding from the education tax,“ Reid said.

 

The minister acknowledged the hardships faced by students to access and fund tertiary education and spoke to the challenges that recent graduates experience.

 

“We had committed in the manifesto to extend the amortisation period and that’s one of the things we’d like to see done. But there was an ‘Obama prescription’, which, by the way, is now endorsed by UNESCO; their proposal is to cap the loan repayment at 15 per cent of gross salary when students begin work. That I believe would be music to ears of borrowers. As the minister of education that is my medium-term objective, to negotiate with my Government and SLB for that reform to make things manageable,” Reid said.

 

He went on to commiserate with students, citing his experience when he served on the appeals committee of the bureau, and singled out the nurses whose challenges he was familiar with.

 

Reid highlighted that the ministry has worked with central government to increase the funding to SLB as demands on its resources continue to increase.

 

In speaking to the achievements of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Reid highlighted that $200 million has been reassigned to the SLB from the HEART Trust/NTA. Admitting that more will be needed as more positive student outcomes are achieved, he said that this is an area in which he committed to see improvement.

 

CAPTION: REID… the Ministry of Education needs to be driving the policies that govern the operations and execution of the Students’ Loan Bureau 

JIS: Twenty-three retired educators from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Region Two, who have served between 18 and 43 years, were honoured during a Recognition Ceremony held on September 19 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston.

 

The retirees, who worked at primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the parishes of Portland, St. Thomas and St. Mary, were presented with citations in recognition of their sterling contributions to the education sector.

 

Portfolio Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, who delivered the keynote address, lauded the commitment of the honourees.

 

“It is my distinct pleasure to be here as we celebrate and honour our great principals, president and other distinguished educators who have served us so well… . You have been stalwarts of the teaching profession,” he said.

 

“We honour and recognise your outstanding service and professionalism and commitment to [the] education and training of students. The nation is proud of you,” he added.

 

President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Georgia Waugh-Richards, who brought greetings, encouraged the retirees to continue to contribute to education by sharing the wisdom that has been garnered over decades with the younger generation of teachers.

 

“The Jamaican education system has need of you. Residing in you is a wealth of pedagogy that younger educators can benefit from. As your professional organisation, we encourage you to find a young teacher that you can mentor. Find a school that is in need of your skill and a community programme you can volunteer for and make lives better,” she said.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (right), greets retired Principal of Lyssons Primary in Morant Bay, Ena Barclay. Occasion was a Recognition Ceremony for 23 retired educators from the parishes of Portland, St. Thomas and St. Mary held on September 19 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

 

JIS: Starting next year, staff at residential childcare facilities will receive training and counselling services that will better enable them to address the needs of wards in their care.

 

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Floyd Green, in making the disclosure yesterday, said that the Child Development Agency (CDA) is developing the modules for the training and counselling, which will be undertaken in private and State-run residential care facilities.

 

He said that the services are crucial for the caregivers and will place them in a better position to take care of the wards.

 

“We always speak about the welfare of our children, but we often don’t speak about the welfare of the staff in the homes and we have to start dealing with that…We speak about the mental well-being of our children, (but) we don’t often speak about when a staff member needs some counselling,” Green argued.

 

He noted that the CDA has a responsibility to provide consistent training for workers employed to the facilities. “Not only do we have to ensure that the people are well vetted but that they get continuous training,” he added.

 

The State Minister was speaking at a licensing sensitisation workshop for residential childcare facilities held on the grounds of the Alpha Institute in Kingston.

 

The event sought to provide guidance on the requirements to be met. Every three years, private and State-run residential childcare facilities are required to undergo a relicensing process as part of measures to improve the standards of the child protection sector.

 

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

OBSERVER: IN an effort to bolster educational outcomes across the island, the Ministry of Education has earmarked $34 billion that will go directly into the coffers of secondary level institutions over the just-begun academic year.

 

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer in a one-on-one on Tuesday, Minister of Education Senator Ruel Reid advised that the Government is committed to fuelling and funding the sector with the resources needed to secure a Jamaican workforce ready to take on the opportunities that will become available.

 

In an unprecedented move, the minister released a report of the allocation to high schools across the six regions of the ministry. The report indicates that the majority of institutions are being allocated more than $220 million each for the academic year 2017/18, with a few institutions in regions one, five and six identified to receive in excess of $300 million each.

 

Norman Manley High, Excelsior High and Kingston College top the allocations in Region One. For Region Two, Seaforth, St Mary and Titchfield high schools lead that region, having been allocated more than $245 million each. Brown’s Town, Ocho Rios and Marcus Garvey high schools lead Region Three, with St James, Black River and Old Harbour high schools being allocated the most money in regions four through six, respectively.

 

The allotments include operational grants, regular subvention, as well as support for infrastructure, maintenance, safety, ICT, staffing, among other things.

 

Notably, approximately $2 billion has been included across all regions for the feeding programme under the auspices of the Programme for Advancement Through Health and Education.

 

The minister spoke to the belief that there exists a budgetary fallout after the ministry’s insistence on a cap on parents’ contribution and the elimination of mandatory fees to institutions.

 

“If you look at the total parent contribution, it was approximately $1.2 billion… we could easily argue that, technically, if all the parent contributions were collected, the new allocations would have covered that entirely; and yet they are still getting some parent contribution,” he said.

 

He continued that schools will acknowledge, and the data will support it, that “half of the total parent contribution collected came only from Region One; it’s only there in that area that there was any real compliance”.

 

He stressed, therefore, that the other five regions would now be “benefiting tremendously from the policy”.

 

“I know schools want more and more, and they have some needs, but as a ministry we still have to have a policy; we can’t have a free-for-all and no control. The sector must have order,” he said.

 

Senator Reid indicated that, “There is no such realisation that an income stream had been closed for schools. This is [the] second year, and that has not happened.”

 

He indicated that schools are encouraged to prepare and present budgets that reflect the support need for their programmes and they will see the funding is in place and the programmes are run by “labour support”.

 

“Overall, I think it is a great win-win, as schools now have a set of funding that insulates them,” Reid explained.

 

“We have given them funds to run the core programme, and they have substantially more resources to cover this.”

 

In reference to the allocation per student, Minister Reid said: “The $19,000 was a reference point, but we have had to give support to TVET (Technical And Vocational Education and Training), science, and other programmes; staffing included.

 

“All this has been done within the budget that we were given. It all has to do with how creative Dr McLean [chief education officer] and the team have been to deliver what we considered to be the responsibility for the Government.”

 

Minister Reid made sure to add that the primary schools had not been left out.

 

“We have increased grants to primary schools by some 169 per cent. We have been fixing up their canteens. They have already got increases for their janitorial services and maintenance. We’ve spent over $554 million in the improvement of the physical space for primary schools.

 

“We [are] working on more resources for safety and security in those schools. We can’t do everything overnight, but we working on it,” he said.

 

Reid reinforced that it was a promise of his Government to support education across the island and to raise the educational outcomes and available opportunities for access to especially at-risk youth.

 

“What we don’t want is for finances to be any sort of barrier to student access to programmes. We are committed to this, we have allocated the funding, and see that the institutions receive it in a timely manner,” he said.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education Senator Ruel Reid speaking with the Jamaica Observer at his Heroes’ Circle offices in Kingston.

JIS: Work is now complete for the merger of the Child Development Agency (CDA) and the Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR), and is awaiting approval by Cabinet.

 

Making the disclosure, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, says by the end of October, the “merger will be operationalized”, while work continues on the legal aspects of the entities.

 

In an interview with JIS News, the State Minister said both the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, and the Public Sector Transformation Unit gave feedback on the structure of the new entity, and all the changes have been shared with critical partners.

 

“Those have been finalised, and we expect that within a few weeks, Cabinet will sign off on the approval,” he informed, adding that the two agencies are now operating on a parallel basis as they await a formal decision by the Cabinet.

 

In January, the Government appointed a committee chaired by University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Director, Michael McAnuff-Jones, to streamline the services offered by the agencies, and as part of forward planning, the CDA and the OCR recently met at a retreat and agreed on a strategic three-year plan, in keeping with the objectives of the new-look agency.

 

“We are in the process of circulating that draft strategic plan among staff members,” Mr. Green said, noting that work is far advanced for the reallocation of spaces.

 

“The changes are holistic. This is a complete reorganisation of divisions, the creation of a new department, as well as strengthening the internal efficiencies and accountability, to ensure that the agency functions with secrecy and in a timely manner,” the State Minister explained.

 

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

JIS: In light of recent reports of bullying among students and the traumatic impact on the victims, the Child Development Agency (CDA) is imploring parents to engage their children on a deeper level.

 

“It is important that parents have frequent dialogue with their children and ask the right questions,” advises marketing and public relations manager at the CDA, Rochelle Dixon.

 

Dixon said the agency had been getting calls from concerned parents and has executed a number of interventions in different institutions. She noted, however, that the victims may not necessarily reach out for assistance until the case becomes extremely severe.

 

She said that there are a number of telltale signs that parents may look for to determine whether something is amiss with the child.

 

“Your child may express a desire to stay away from school. There may be changes in the child’s mood and behaviour pattern. He or she may be apprehensive about discussing what happens in class, as well as other stress-induced symptoms may present themselves,” she explained.

 

A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)/CDA study conducted in 2015 found that six in 10 students report being bullied at some point in their lives, with the majority of cases occurring at school.

 

Dixon is encouraging parents to forge partnerships with the teachers and guidance counsellors at the schools their children attend and report incidents to the school’s administration. Additional support may also be had by reaching out to the CDA.

 

CAPTION: A United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF)/Child Development Agency study conducted in 2015, found that six in 10 students report being bullied at some point in their lives, with the majority of cases occurring at school.