For the first time, Jamaica’s household helpers and fisherfolk will be able to secure pension benefits under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) as the Government moves to formalise these sectors. This will be facilitated under the Transition to Formality Action Plan, which will see this segment of workers being able to access health and life insurance, pension and other facilities...

A call has been made for victims of domestic abuse not to retaliate with violence but to get out of the relationship and seek help. Acting Director for Community Liaison at the Bureau of Gender Affairs (BGA), Nardia McLaren, in making the call said that intimate-partner violence is normalised when the abuser responds with similar aggression. “We are creating abusers...

The Christmas season is upon us, and for many people, a dinner table with deliciously prepared meals is on the list for their family and friends. With that in mind, the Scientific Research Council (SRC) is inviting persons to take advantage of its smoked meat facility. Through its pilot plant, the entity sells SRC branded meats and also allows persons...

The National Housing Trust (NHT) is slated to spend a record $57.7 billion on the provision of housing solutions this year. NHT Board Member, Nesta-Claire Hunter, said that the sum is the largest programmed expenditure in the entity’s 45-year history. “This means construction of quality and affordable housing solutions at an even faster pace, with the possibility of even more...

Motorists are urged to abide by the Road Traffic Act beyond curfew hours, says Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon. Robert Montague. “I want to make that appeal, because during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are experiencing another pandemic of death on our roads. So far, some 428 Jamaicans have died on our roads since the start of the year and,...

Parents are welcoming the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Information’s Sixth-Form Pathways Programme as a practical approach that caters to all students regardless of their academic performance. The Sixth-Form Pathways is part of the Ministry’s implementation of a seven-year high-school programme. It allows for students who complete grade 11 to enrol in the programme and pursue a two-year course of...

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, says the Government is considering a vaccine requirement for new entrants to the island’s infirmaries, once admissions resume. “What we are looking to do is that once we start to readmit persons to the infirmaries, one of the conditions that will be laid out is that new cases coming into...