The Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further improve the quality of services offered to vulnerable children and families. The two-year MoU entails the establishment of a referral system that facilitates social interventions for persons who are assessed and determined to be vulnerable....

Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has called on the Jamaican Diaspora in the United States to partner with Government in establishing a national school bus service. He said the Ministry is looking to acquire 100 school buses over the next five years, and encouraged the Diaspora to match this target. The Minister was addressing members...

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, says the increase in the number of Around the Table activities during Youth Month this year is geared at ensuring that more rural youth are reached. Speaking at an Around the Table dinner at the Guango Jerk Centre in Dunbar’s River, Westmoreland, on November 14, Mr....

When Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, broke the news to Jelani Geoffrey Ata Munroe that he is the 2018 Rhodes Scholar, he was very elated, not only for himself but his entire family and those who have nurtured him over the years. According to Jelani, a 23-year-old graduate of Stanford University holding a Bachelor of Arts...

To improve safety and security in the island’s secondary schools, more institutions will soon be equipped with metal detectors. The schools will be provided with handheld metal detectors as well as walk-through metal-detector scanners. The four schools that will receive walk-through metal detectors are Edith Dalton James, Brown’s Town, Anchovy and Norman Manley High schools. This was disclosed by Minister...

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is looking to diversify cash disbursement options for beneficiaries of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH). The Ministry has targeted an initial 3,000 beneficiaries for promotional day activities, which include collaborations with mobile money service providers as a potential option for PATH payments. Mobile Money is an electronic wallet service...

The newly chartered Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) on Tuesday (November 14) graduated its first cohort of students to be certified since the institution’s formal upgrading in September. Approximately 250 students were conferred with master’s and bachelor’s degrees and diplomas during the graduation ceremony at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, having successfully completed studies in a wide cross section of...

The Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund has invested $3.3 billion in the development of the health sector over its 15 years of existence. Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, William ‘Billy’ Heaven, said the funds have been spent on the construction and upgrading of health facilities, promoting a healthy lifestyle, training of personnel, research, and cancer treatment,...

The Praedial Larceny Prevention Unit (PLPU) in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is now accepting entries for its National Poster and Essay Competitions. Praedial Larceny Prevention Coordinator, Trudy-Ann Edwards, said that the competitions “form part of the Ministry’s public education campaign aimed at sensitising Jamaicans about the negative extent, nature and magnitude of praedial larceny”. The competitions,...