Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, has called on parents to prioritise their children’s education over ‘bashment’ living, which he describes as “choosing substance over poppy show.” Speaking at the Schoolfield Primary and Infant School’s graduation ceremony in St. Elizabeth on June 25, the Minister said Jamaicans must know and appreciate that education is substance. “We need to put...

Education Minister, Rev. Hon. Ronald Thwaites says the Government will continue to invest in education through the addition of classrooms, and the construction of new schools, where necessary. To this end, plans are in place for the addition of classroom spaces to 42 schools across the island in time for the start of the new academic year in September. Speaking...

The administrators, teachers, volunteers and stakeholders of Kitson Town All-Age School are forming useful partnerships aimed at further developing the institution. These partnerships involve infrastructure improvement and the establishment of support organisations. “Support is not all where we want it to be, but where we can partner we do that,” Principal of the St. Catherine-based school, Nerica Powell-Hay, told JIS...

Education Minister, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites says private schools remain a vibrant part of the education system, despite the Government’s decision not to this year place any of the students who sat the Grade Six Achievement Test, (GSAT) at these institutions. He says the Government will realise some $15 million in savings based partially on this decision. The funds will...

There is an urgent need for parents to begin playing a greater role in the lives of their children, especially during their primary and high school years, states Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites. He called on administrators of schools across the island to move decisively to establish a written contract between parents and the institutions, for both parties...

The curriculum at Sydney Pagon Agricultural High School in St. Elizabeth is being revised to incorporate the delivery of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programmes. The transition at the parish’s sole agricultural high school to a more STEM-oriented focus, the first such undertaking at the secondary level, is slated to take effect at the start of the 2014/15 academic...

The Government will be spending $120 million to transform the facility in Montpelier, St. James, where Haitian refugees were housed, into a second campus for Anchovy High School. Education Minister, Rev. Hon. Ronald Thwaites in addressing a ceremony at the Montpelier site where the announcement was made on Friday, June 20, said the upgrading work is to be completed in...