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The team from the Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU), mandated to develop a plan for restructuring the public sector, is reporting that it now has a rough first draft of that plan ready for review. The Unit was established in the Office of the Cabinet on November 16, 2009, to drive the transformation of the public sector over an 18-month...

Primary schools across the island are being invited to submit entries for the 18th staging of the Butterkist National Primary Schools Mathematics Competition. The contest, which is geared at promoting excellence in mathematics at the primary level, will be staged on Wednesday, April 28 at centres across the island. It is sponsored by the Seprod Group of Companies. At the...

Schools in Jamalco's mining communities in Manchester and Clarendon are to receive some 30,000 textbooks under the company's annual book distribution programme. The texts, which are to be distributed, were donated by a number of United States publishers and shipped to the island by Alcoa Foundation. At the launch of the 2010 programme held recently at the Halse Hall Great...

A kitchen and dining facility was officially opened today (February 18), at the Women's Centre of Jamaica Foundation, Kingston Centre. The structure will also be used as a classroom for the teaching of culinary arts, as well as for the hosting of functions. Most of the funding for the facility was provided by members and supporters of Washington-based organisation -...

The Green Park Primary and Junior High School in Clarendon has staged its second students' behavioural change camp, to encourage male students to focus on academics and personal conduct. The three-day camp, with the theme "Your Future, Your Moment, Make it Happen," was staged recently at the Kendal Camp and Conference Centre, in Manchester, and saw the boys being given...

Opposition Senator, Basil Waite has called on the Government to conduct a salary re-classification for early childhood teachers. He said that teachers in the early childhood system are severely underpaid and are not incentivised to remain in that sub-sector. "Early childhood teachers' salaries range from a low of $14,800 (per month) if they are paid to a high of $25,645.32...

Final year seafaring students and graduates of the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI), with certificates of competency from the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ), will have the opportunity to expand their skills through the introduction of a new course, 'Mastering Yacht Life'. The course, offered through the collaboration of the CMI, the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, HEART Trust/NTA's Enterprise Based Training...

Minister of Education, Hon. Andrew Holness, is suggesting that government consider sharing credit information with financial institutions abroad as it seeks to recover money borrowed by students to complete their tertiary education. He was contributing to the debate on the Credit Reporting Bill in the House of Representatives yesterday (February 9), which, among other things, provides for the sharing of...

A total of 75 young people from Clarendon graduated from the National Youth Services' Education Corps last Tuesday (February 2), after successfully completing four weeks of intense training in the early childhood and primary education curricula. Once they have completed their final assessment the graduates will receive level II certification from the National Council on Technical Vocational Education and Training...

Guidance counsellors in non-traditional and newly formed high schools recently benefited from a workshop where they were exposed to best practices in the profession in order to strengthen their work. The workshop, held last Wednesday (Feb. 3) at the Manchester High School, was organised by the Mutual Building Societies Foundation under its Centres of Excellence education programme. Assistant Programme Manager...

The work of the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) is to be highlighted during the sixth annual Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education Week, which commences on Sunday, February 7. The theme for the week is: 'Quality Tertiary Education for the 21st Century: the Role of Institutions'. Executive Director of the UCJ, Dr. Ethley London, told JIS News that among the...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, is encouraging students at the Vocational Training Development Institute (VTDI), to acquire skills that will enable them to contribute to the development of the country. "All of us ultimately desire having a set of skills that allow us to be in demand. If you are a plumber, you want to be...