The Early Stimulation Programme (ESP), which operates on a referral basis, has treated over 20,000 children from across the island since its inception in 1975. As contained in the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) 2020 Economic and Social Survey, over the course of 2020, the ESP received 648 referrals, a decrease of 22.8 per cent compared with 2019. Of the...

Medical Officer of Health for Westmoreland, Dr. Marcia Graham, is reporting that more young people in the parish have been taking the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. In an interview with JIS News, Dr. Graham noted that the trend is encouraging, as there has been an increase in the number of young people getting critically ill due to the virus. “Earlier in...

The National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC) is imploring parents to reach out to the entity for support to improve their parenting skills. “We want parents to get in touch with us,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NPSC, Kaysia Kerr, told JIS News. “We're out in the community; we have a very sophisticated network at this point and we're doing...

Education, Youth and Information Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, says that the first staging of the National Summer School Programme is going well.  “We are pleased with summer school…our tutors took to it and our students as well and summer school is (doing) what it (is) intended to do, especially with the (face- to-face component), in terms of finding some of...

Children’s Advocate, Diahann Gordon Harrison, is encouraging parents to become familiar with their children’s various developmental stages in order to better understand what they are going through and to be more patient with them. “We need to be guided by what is normal at different stages of our children’s development and try to put ourselves in his or her shoes....

The first cohort of 23 students who participated in an Events Planning and Management Level 3 Supervisory Course, offered by the HEART/NSTA Trust, have completed their studies. They were presented with skills certificates during their graduation ceremony at the Social Development Commission (SDC) complex in St. Catherine, on July 22. The programme, a partnership between the HEART College of Hospitality...

Executive Director, Social Development Commission (SDC), Dr. Dwayne Vernon (right), presents Stacy Ann Gordon with her diploma in Events Planning and Management, during a graduation ceremony held at the SDC’s St. Catherine Office on July 22.