PMI Assists Students in St. James

About 346 students drawn from 11 inner city communities in Montego Bay were presented with back-to-school gift packages Monday (August 31) by the St. James Peace Management Initiative (PMI).
The students who were enrolled at primary, all-age, junior high and high schools within the parish, each received a school bag with books and other school supplies for them to start the new academic year which begins on Monday (September 7).
The presentations formed part of the social interventions of the St. James PMI. The students were selected from the communities in which the PMI is currently engaged. These include; Lilliput, Paradise, Gutters, Granville, Hart Street, Glendevon, Rose Heights and Norwood.

Administrator of the St. James Peace Management Initiative Garfield McGhie, fits a school bag on to this student during a presentation ceremony in Montego Bay today (August 31).

Chairman of the St. James PMI, the Rev. Everton Jackson, told JIS News that for peace management to be effective in the communities, social interventions were required.
“We are now on the eve of back to school and, given the global meltdown, there are many persons who are struggling with the difficulty in furnishing their children with the requisite equipment and tools for their educational development,” the Rev. Jackson said.
He added that the PMI decided to stand in solidarity with the parents who are hurting, to see how it could provide a level of assistance which would enable the children to benefit.

Chairman of the St. James Peace Management Initiative Rev. Everton Jackson, (Centre) Administrator Garfield McGhie,Psychologist, Kamala Mc.Whinney (Second Right) and Social Worker with the PMI Maxine Matthews took time out to pose with these selected students during a presentation ceremony in which some 346 of them were given school supplies for back to school come September 7. The presentation took place in Montego Bay today (August 31).

“We are aware that what we are doing cannot be interpreted as the sum total of what is required for their education, but we are doing this as a contribution, because one of the ways that we can deal with peace management is to keep our children off the streets, and to ensure that they are where they are supposed to be, (which is) in school,” Rev. Jackson told JIS News.