The Lauriston and Thompson Pen (L&T) Community 4-H Club is being lauded as a model for transforming communities, through its training activities and creating opportunities for entrepreneurship. The 20-year-old entity, which is the Jamaica 4-H Clubs’ largest and most active community group, staged its 10th Annual Stew Festival on Saturday (Nov. 4), its grandest event yet. The street-side festival, which...

Come January 2018, the Eltham High School is expected to open its new classroom block, which is currently under construction at a cost of $75 million. Interim Principal of the Spanish Town-based school, Ricardo Bennett, said the expansion project will provide much-needed classroom space to better serve the approximately 1,800 students enrolled. “It gives the students more space. It gives...

Deputy Chief Education Officer, at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Lena Buckle Scott is encouraging Jamaicans to do more to protect the nation’s children from incidents of abuse. She noted that parents and other stakeholders should be sensitised on how to report suspected cases. “We have to make coordinated efforts to help protect the children who are at...

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and the Public-Private Sector Partnership in Education Committee have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that seeks to better align education and training to meet the needs of the labour market. With youth unemployment at an estimated 30 per cent, the Government is taking a targeted focus on human capital development through education...

The Student Motivational and Empowerment Programme, aimed at inspiring students to achieve their full potential and contribute to national development, was launched on Thursday (November 2) at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston. An initiative of the Kingston and St. Andrew Development and Homecoming Foundation, the programme seeks to motivate and empower high-school students in pursuing peace, excellence, discipline,...

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says the Government, through the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), is committed to providing parents with the necessary training and support to raise their children, as a first line of defence against crime. “It is no longer the Ministry of National Security (only) that is really going to arrest...

Beginning November 13, the Government will convene town hall meetings across the island in preparation for the roll-out of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) in 2019. Scheduled to run until January 21 next year, the meetings will serve to heighten public awareness of the initiative, which is a new assessment of students at the primary level that will replace the...

Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid,is encouraging parents to begin saving for their child’s tertiary education from early. Speaking at the Malta Back to School Scratch and Win grand prize handover ceremony on October 31 at the St. Jude’s Primary School in Kingston, the Minister said this is important for the child to realise his or...

The HEART Trust/NTA has developed five courses aimed at ensuring competency in bamboo harvesting and processing. This is in keeping with the Government’s move to embark on the large-scale commercial production of bamboo in order to tap into the lucrative international market and provide opportunities for employment and community-based initiatives. The courses are bamboo ply technology, bamboo charcoal processing, bamboo...