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State Minister with responsibility for Local Government, Hon. Robert Montague, today (Sept. 16) announced a community Cultural Development Fund, which will help local authorities fund cultural or heritage development projects in their communities. Mr. Montague made the announcement as he addressed this morning's session of the Inter-city Intangible Cultural Co-operation Network (ICCN) International Local Government Workshop, at the Jamaica Conference...

Jamaicans can attend a digital arts festival, free of cost this coming weekend. The two-day festival, designed to showcase cutting edge technology used in enhancing the fine arts, is being hosted by the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC). Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CPTC, Angela Patterson, says that the Jamaica Digital Arts Festival is a combined fun day...

The Ministry of Education has said that classes for the 115 students placed at the Steer Town Primary and Junior High School, after sitting the Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT), should begin next week. A brief, provided by the Ministry, stated that 90 per cent of refurbishing work on the building, which will accommodate the students, has been completed, with...

A team of experts from Agricultural Cooperatives Development International (ACDI) and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (VOCA) will be in Jamaica next Wednesday (September 23), to assist the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in exploring restructuring the cocoa industry. The decision to send the team was made by President/CEO of ACDI/VOCA, Carl Leonard, at a meeting with Jamaica's Agriculture and...

Representatives of the European Commission's (EC) Delegation to Jamaica and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) signed contracts and broke ground for a multi-million dollar expansion project at the Maverley Primary and Junior High School, Kingston, on Wednesday (September 16) Head of the EC Delegation, Ambassador Marco Mazzochi Alemanni; Managing Director of JSIF, Scarlette Gillings; Member of Parliament for North...

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Hon. Olivia Grange, headed a large group of persons, including officials of sporting organisations, relatives, sponsors and fans, who welcomed three of the athletes who participated in the recent World Championships in Berlin, Germany, when they arrived at the Norman Manley International Airport, on September 16. The athletes were Olympic and World Champion female...

The Bank of Jamaica (BoJ), has issued new shaped $1 and $10 coins into circulation. Both coins, which were issued last week, bear the images of National Heroes, the Rt. Excellent Sir Alexander Bustamante, and the Rt. Excellent George William Gordon, respectively, on one side, and the National Coat of Arms on the other. The original $1 coin has a...

Newly appointed Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Wesley Hughes, has charged players in Jamaica's music industry, to mobilise themselves into groups, which are able to formally lobby for their interests. Dr. Hughes was speaking on September 15, at a meeting of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JARIA), held at the Jamaica Trade and...

The Jamaica Information Service (JIS) is creating additional features on its website, which will allow users, especially students, to be more interactive with them, while keeping abreast of the developments in Government. This disclosure was made by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), Mrs. Donna-Marie Rowe, while addressing the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) scholarship award...

Minister of Education, Hon. Andrew Holness, has reiterated the Government's decision, that no child will be allowed to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), without achieving mastery on the Grade Four Literacy Test. Mr. Holness, who outlined the new competence-based transition policy in the House of Representatives on September 15, said that if necessary, children would be allowed to...

Education Minister, Hon. Andrew Holness, says greater emphasis will have to be placed on reading comprehension, citing less than satisfactory results in the 2009 Grade Four Literacy Test. Data from the Ministry show that on the three sub-tests of skills - Word Recognition, Reading Comprehension and Writing - children performed best on word recognition, with some 5,313 of them not...

Chairman of the Early Childhood Commission (ECC), Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughn, has stressed the importance of investing in early childhood development, noting that spending in this area offers the highest rate of return to the society. "Early childhood development is important to Jamaica as it is to any other country, because this is the time that children's brains are developing maximally...