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The Government has made some $2.7 billion available in the 2008/09 budget to fund the secondary schools tuition fee programme for the new academic year commencing in September, Education Minister, Andrew Holness has announced. This sum, he said, represented a "massive" overall increase of 51.6 per cent over the $1.8 million for the previous year. Making his contribution in the...

Construction has been completed for six buildings under the development of model learning environments component of the Enhancement of Basic Schools Project (EBSP). These include the Yallahs, Hope Village, and DRB Basic Schools, and the St. Thomas, Manchester, and St. James Resource Centres. As stated in a Ministry Paper tabled by Minister of Education, Andrew Holness in the House of...

During the 2007/08 fiscal year, the HEART Trust/NTA and the National Council on Technical Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) enrolled a total of 106,258 persons for training, assessment and certification services. As set out in a Ministry Paper tabled in the House of Representatives on May 20 by the Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, the HEART Trust/NTA also partnered with...

Some of the functions of the Social Housing Unit of the Ministry of Water and Housing (MoWH) are to be carried out under the Constituency Development Fund, which allocates $40 million to Members of Parliament to undertake development work in their constituencies. This is according to Minister of Water and Housing, Dr. Horace Chang, in an interview with JIS News...

The Manchester Social Development Commission (SDC) is encouraging persons to participate in Labour Day projects across the parish, especially at the Manchester Infirmary, which is the parish project. SDC parish manager for Manchester, Rose Griffiths, told JIS News that the scope of work will involve cleaning and beautifying the facility and planting food crops that the residents can benefit from...

The Consulate General in Miami is reaching out to Jamaican nationals in the Belle Glade, Florida, a number of whom are facing health and economic hardship. At a recent community fair hosted by the Consulate on the grounds of the Hole in the Wall Restaurant, persons were assisted to complete applications for Jamaican passports and birth certificates. Volunteers from the...

The Government is putting up twenty-million dollars to help fund Premier League football in Jamaica for the upcoming football season. The announcement came from the Honourable Olivia "Babsy" Grange, Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports (MICYS) as she delivered the main address at the National Premier League and Coco Cola National Under-21 Awards Ceremony at the Pegasus Hotel last...

The Office of the Children's Advocate has embarked on a new public awareness programme with the aim of significantly reducing the level of child abuse. Appealing to parents and guardians in particular to be responsible and careful in protecting their children, the programme comprises a series of public service announcements (PSA) on local radio and television. Children's Advocate, Mary Clarke,...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, is urging all unregistered businesses and self-employed persons to take advantage of the tax amnesty, in which waivers of interest and penalties will be granted, across all tax types, once the principal sum owed is paid up. Mr. Shaw said Cabinet had decided that as a first step to increasing tax...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, has said that the macroeconomic programme for the 2008/09 fiscal year is aimed at creating the conditions that can support sustainable growth into the medium term. The Minister, who was speaking yesterday (April 10) during the opening of the 2008/09 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, explained that the main...

Minister of Finance and Public Service, Audley Shaw, has said that the non-debt capital expenditure for the 2008/09 fiscal year is set at $44.648 billion, representing a $20.02 billion or an 80 per cent increase over the actual expenditure of last year.He also informed that the allocations for the Ministry of Education, National Security, Roads and Bridges as well as...

The Government will, during the 2008/09 fiscal year, implement the consolidation of statutory deductions into one social security payment, as part of efforts to reform the country's revenue collection system. This announcement was made by Minister of Finance and Public Service, Audley Shaw, during his Budget presentation in the House of Representatives yesterday (April 10). "This is meant to be...