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Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, is encouraging parents to put their children first when making important life decisions. “Your first priority is your child. They come first,” he said, while addressing parents gathered at the Franklin Town Primary School in Kingston on Monday (May 21) for a parenting seminar. Rev. Thwaites, who is also Member of Parliament for...

Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, has reiterated his call for early childhood and primary school administrators to reassess their spending on extravagant graduation ceremonies. Mr. Thwaites said while he is not against graduations, he believes the ceremonies must not be wasteful or excessive events. "Graduation can’t cost more than the school fees," he stated on May 21, while...

The Martha Brae Basic School in Trelawny has received a major face-lift, courtesy of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of Falmouth. The exercise was carried out on Saturday, May 19, when a major beautification project was undertaken at the 12-year old school, including the painting of the interior and exterior of the building....

The Seaforth Primary School in St. Thomas staged its second annual Literacy Fair on Thursday (May 17), as part of activities to lift literacy levels at the institution. Held under the theme: ‘Reading is the soil in which intelligence and knowledge grow,’ the aim was to highlight the benefits of literacy and encourage children to read through fun and interactive...

Minister of Education, Hon. Ronald Thwaites, says the continued development of programmes to assist children with special needs is important in nation building. “These children deserve as much attention, in fact, even more than children without challenges... The Ministry would like to help more and more and to sensitize all schools, all parents and the nation in fact, so that...

Governor General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, has called for commitment from all stakeholders within the education system to rid schools of violence. “Each school must be a violence-free zone. We should not have violence in our schools, everyone must passionately commit to this effort. Parents, students, teachers, school boards, security forces, church, social workers, community leaders...

Four fully equipped after school centres are slated to be established this year under the GTECH After School Advantage Programme. GTECH’s Country Manager for Jamaica, Ann-Dawn Young Sang, made the announcement on May 17, at the opening of a centre at the Holy Trinity High School in Kingston. She said that in addition to the setting up and outfitting of...

A sum of $365 million has been earmarked in the Estimates of Expenditure for 2012/13, to enhance the University of Technology’s capacity to provide quality education, through expansion and upgrading of its facilities, development of staff, and improved financial sustainability. The funds will go towards completing 20 per cent of shared facilities (three  lecture theatres and 20 lecture rooms), and...

Some $37.3 million will go towards initiatives aimed at improving the operations of the School Feeding programme this fiscal year. As stated in the 2012/13 Estimates of Expenditure, the aim is to modernize and upgrade institutional capacity and organizational structure, and improve the nutritional quality and efficiency of the snack component of the programme. In achieving the objectives, a web-based...

The Government has set aside a total of $5 million for the continuation of the National ISO Quality Management System Certification Programme. This is outlined in the 2012/13 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in the House of Representatives on May 10. The project, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, will be carried out throughout the...

Minister of Education, Rev. the Hon. Ronald Thwaites, says the Ministry has a clear policy against all forms of bullying and intimidation. He noted that the Ministry has a clear and solid guiding principle, which mandates that all schools must “provide a safe environment for persons of all sorts, of all different positions in life, to learn." Rev. Thwaites was...

An allocation of $20 million has been made in this year’s budget to repair and rehabilitate three secondary schools, and prepare bills of quantity and bid documents for three other sites. This is being done under a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project, which will repair and rehabilitate a total of six secondary schools, which were damaged by...