JIS Takes Heritage Week Promotion To Montego Bay

In its continued effort to promote the observance of October as National Heritage Month, the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), through its Montego Bay Regional Office staged the third of five heritage exhibition and book sales, at the Mount Salem Primary and Junior High School, St. James, Wednesday (October 13).
Special packages containing posters of the national heroes and the national symbols, and compact discs (CDs) on traditional dances and other historic and heritage material are presented to the principals of the schools during Heritage Week.

Principal of the Mount Salem Primary and Junior High School in St.James, Mrs. Ann Shaw-Salmon, (Right) examines items on display while Chairman of the school board Mrs. Glenda miller (second right) looks on during a JIS heritage display and book sale at the school on (October 13). JIS team members from Montego Bay Regional Officer are from (left) Jermane Stewart, Paulette Reid, Aston Barrett and Ann-Marie Whittingham.

It is expected that approximately 5,500 students and teachers will visit the displays and book sales, designed to heighten awareness of Jamaica’s rich cultural heritage.
In accepting a package from the JIS team, Principal of the Mount Salem Primary and Junior High, Ann Shaw-Salmon, said that she was delighted that the team had chosen to visit her school with the heritage exhibition and book sale which she expects to be “very beneficial and enriching”.
“I am happy that the JIS is actually here doing a presentation on our heritage. We have also received gifts packages, which should be quite useful in the actual curriculum, as well as in our exposition that we plan to establish later on,” she said.

Teachers and students of Mount Salem Primary and Junior High School look through display items during a JIS Heritage display and book sale at the school on (October 13).

She added that while the school’s activities are scaled down this year, it is still having an exposition and a concert.
“There will be a variety of foods that reflect our heritage as well, and we are hoping that the exposure that will be given to the children will actually be enriching”, Mrs. Shaw-Salmon told JIS News.
The new board chairman at the school, Glenda Miller, who was on hand to welcome the JIS team members, said that the display and book sale was “a fantastic effort”, as many students were not knowledgeable about their heritage.
“I think that this effort, showcasing the national heroes and other historic and cultural information, is a good thing for this school because our children ought to be educated about their past,” she said.
“I also hope that this effort will continue in schools across the country because, as these children get older and leave the school, new ones will replace them and the knowledge and information will be shared with their peers, as well as with their parents,” she told JIS News.