The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) is once again accepting entries for large groups of more than 10 persons for its performing arts competitions. The programme covers the areas of dance, deaf dance, drama, music, traditional folkforms and speech. Deadline for entries is Friday, January 20, 2023. Acting Executive Director of the JCDC, Marjorie Leyden-Kirton, told JIS News that the...

Six new farm tractors, valued approximately $49.7 million, have been presented to the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. They are intended to bolster activities in six high-producing parishes, namely St. Thomas, St. Ann, St. Elizabeth, Clarendon, Manchester and St. Catherine, and will add to the seven tractors currently in use by the entity....

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, is imploring Jamaicans to continue to take the COVID-19 vaccines as the pandemic remains a threat. “The COVID 19 pandemic is still very much here. It must be worrying to all concerned that we are seeing a re-emergence of infection rates, hospitalisations and deaths (around the world),” he said. Dr....

Residents of selected communities in St. Elizabeth are receiving their Programme for Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) benefits through direct deposit payments to their accounts. This is under a pilot programme being undertaken by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in the parish. The Ministry’s St. Elizabeth Parish Manager, Michelle Senior, said that the payment option is being...

The HEART/NSTA Trust is looking to improve on its ranking in the 2019 Global Competitiveness Index Report, which indicated that Jamaica was 36th of 141 countries in quality vocational training. HEART’s Director of Strategic Partnership, Research and Innovation, Kenesha Campbell, said this is part of the agency’s larger mandate of providing globally competitive, contemporary training programmes. She was addressing the...

Jamaica will once again prove itself a pioneer when it launches the first ever Global Tourism Resilience Institute in February. Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, made the announcement while addressing the recent launch of the Global Tourism Resilience Conference. The conference will be hosted at the University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters in St. Andrew, from February 15 to17....

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is reporting that most of the administrative process-related issues affecting the 2022 Population and Housing Census’ initial phase have been resolved. The Census, which commenced last September on a phased basis in western parishes and subsequently rolled out islandwide, was slated for completion within three months. The exercise was, however, extended into the first...