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High school students have been urged to say no to voluntary and involuntary smoking,  in the drive to promote a smoke-free environment in Jamaica. This message was given through various presentations at the fourth staging of the Jamaica Cancer Society’s Anti-Tobacco Youth Forum, held on February 20 under the theme: ‘No joking, no smoking- serious ting’,  at the Girl Guides...

Minister of Education, Rev. the Hon. Ronald Thwaites, has hailed the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) electronic book (e-book) initiative, noting that it will save students significant sums in textbook costs. Under the project, being piloted in the medical faculty, students will be able to digitally access all their texts and journals at a fraction of the cost of...

Minister of Education, Rev. the Hon. Ronald Thwaites, has emphasised that there needs to be a change in the direction of education in the country. “This direction (can) no longer be where the bright children do well in the academics, and the not so bright do the technical and vocational skills,” the Minister argued. Rev. Thwaites emphasised that the modern...

The Patrick Hylton-led committee, looking into identifying a pool of money to fund the Student Loan Bureau (SLB), is expected to make a report in April. Recognising the severe financial challenges facing the bureau, Education Minister, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, had asked Mr. Hylton, who is Managing Director of the National Commercial Bank (NCB), to examine private funding for the...

Over 300 Grade 9 and 10 students at Knox High School in Spaldings on Thursday (February 7) participated in a media literacy project of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ). This is the second visit to the school by the Commission and it is one in a series under its schools' outreach programme. The Commission also used the opportunity to...

The Minister of Education, Hon Rev. Ronald Thwaites departed for Cuba on Wednesday, February 6. He is scheduled to participate in the 1st meeting of Education Ministers of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The summit will be held as part of the International Pedagogy Conference 2013, which takes place in the Caribbean island, with the attendance...

The 2013 staging of the Public Sector Leadership Development Conference, organised by the Management Institute for National Development (MIND), will be held on March 7 at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston, starting at 8:30 a.m. Under the theme: ‘Leadership in Action: Supporting the Vision, EnGENDERing Transformation’, the event will address public sector leadership, including strategies to foster a leadership...

Minister of Education, Rev. the Hon. Ronald Thwaites, says the observance of Jamaica Day plays a critical role in highlighting the country’s many attributes, while fostering greater patriotism among the student population. “We will celebrate every aspect that is good in the country. This day will provide the students with an opportunity to express all of their patriotic sentiments, and...

Schools from rural Jamaica dominated the top spots in the Vision 2030 Jamaica National Development Plan Essay Competition, when the winners were announced on Wednesday (January 30) at the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ). The competition, which was staged islandwide in October, saw students in different age group categories expressing how Jamaica can achieve its vision of “being the place...

Education Minister, Rev. the Hon. Ronald Thwaites, has commended Jamaica College (JC) on its self- reliance in undertaking a number of development projects. He expressed the hope that this measure of self-support “will in fact be infectious to the rest of the school system in Jamaica.” The Education Minister was speaking on Thursday (Jan. 31), at the opening of an...

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has intensified plans to establish a Driver Training Institute at the Brown’s Town Community College in St. Ann, to undertake the professional training of trailer drivers and transport mechanics. This initiative is expected to commence by September 2013, and has been boosted by the gift of a trailer/truck valued at CD$45,000.00 (approximately $4.5...

The Ministry of Education has endorsed the second staging of the annual Education Support Staff Achievement (ESSA) awards, which seeks to recognise the contributions of non-academic staff at primary schools across the island. An initiative of the Kingston Bookshop (KB), the competition aims to highlight the input of a wide cross section of employees in the school system, including clerks,...