Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Grace McLean, says the Ministry will be advancing plans for the conversion of basic schools into infant departments. “We have 50 such schools that are in an advanced stage of readiness to become infant departments, which would be a part of primary schools in September,” Mrs. Mclean informed. She was speaking...

Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, is encouraging trainee teachers to volunteer their services as a first step to securing employment. “I am urging you (student teachers) to consider volunteering where necessary, and where available in your school communities,” he advised, while addressing the opening ceremony for the Ministry’s job fair for unemployed teachers, at its National Heroes Circle...

The Ministry of Education will be implementing an intensified mathematics programme come the start of the 2013/14 academic year in September. This initiative aims, among other things, to boost Jamaica’s performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) mathematics examinations. The intervention, to be undertaken over the short to medium term, is intended to ensure that persons teaching mathematics have...

Hundreds of students across western Jamaica are to benefit from over 1,000 children’s books which were presented to representatives of the Ministry of Education and Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) by passengers of the cruise ship, Festival at Sea, which docked in Montego Bay, St. James, last week. The donation was facilitated by the San Francisco, California-based agency, Blue World Travel,...

Education Minister, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, is urging principals and other high school administrators to ensure that literacy or numeracy challenges which new students entering their institutions may have, are addressed as a matter of priority. “When you go in with the grade seven students in September...spend the time to get to know them and if there are weaknesses in...

Two students of the Greenwich All-Age School in Kingston, Romario Rowe and Chanel McGregor, who performed outstandingly in this year’s Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), have been awarded five-year scholarships valued $300,000 each towards their secondary education by state oil refinery, Petrojam Limited. Both youngsters, whose results topped their school’s list of GSAT candidates, will each receive $60,000 per year...

The Ministry of Education, through the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), will host a series of Information Fairs during the month of August, under the theme: ‘Surviving the Transition to Secondary School’. These fairs are being staged to provide assistance to parents whose children will be attending secondary schools in the new academic year. The first in the series will...

The Ministry of Education is collaborating with a number of entities to ensure that schools in need of repairs are ready before the start of the 2013/14 academic year, which begins in September. Speaking to journalists following a meeting of the Rotary Club of downtown Kingston at the Hotel Four Seasons in Kingston, on August 7, Portfolio Minister, Hon. Rev....

With the 2013 hurricane season approaching its most active period, Jamaicans are being urged to increase their preparedness efforts. Predictions given in May were for an overly active 2013 season with a 70 per cent likelihood of up to 17 named storms and as many as 10 developing into hurricanes. Speaking in an interview with JIS News, Acting Director General...