Education Ministry Commits to Emergency Preparedness Framework for Early-Childhood Institutions
By: , November 28, 2025
Photo: Donald De La Haye
Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, addresses the Dudley Grant Early Childhood Education Resource Centre Colloquium 2025, hosted by the Jamaica National (JN) Foundation in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI) School of Education, at the UWI Regional Headquarters in St. Andrew on Thursday (November 27).
Photo: Donald De La Haye
Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon (left), converses with Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica National (JN) Group, Earl Jarrett, during the Dudley Grant Early Childhood Education Resource Centre Colloquium 2025, hosted by the JN Foundation in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI) School of Education, at the UWI Regional Headquarters in St. Andrew on Thursday (November 27).The Full Story
The Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information has committed to working with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and other partners to craft emergency preparedness guidelines for Early Childhood Institutions (ECIs).
Portfolio Minister, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, underscored that the guidelines will reflect current hazards and lessons from Category Five Hurricane Melissa, which ravaged western Jamaica on October 28.
“We’re going to have to prepare better than we did. There are so many schools that I’ve been to where we just put in computer labs and all of the computers are wet – all are damaged and destroyed. Some schools had lockers that they used and those survived, but many didn’t. So how we prepare for hurricanes or any disaster is really important,” Dr. Morris Dixon emphasised.
She was addressing the Dudley Grant Early Childhood Education Resource Centre Colloquium 2025, hosted by the Jamaica National (JN) Foundation in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI) School of Education, at the UWI Regional Headquarters in St. Andrew on Thursday (November 27).
The Minister shared that ECIs, especially those located in high-risk zones, will be encouraged to routinely review and test their emergency plans.
“We need to live and breathe preparedness. Preparedness is really about creating confidence so that children and adults understand that, even in an emergency, there is a structured plan. It should not be about one-off trainings. It must become a way of thinking and operating,” she said.
Meanwhile, Senator Morris Dixon advised that Hurricane Melissa has highlighted the need to integrate practical disaster risk reduction content into both pre-service and in-service training for early-childhood practitioners.
“I’m starting to think about what changes to the curriculum do we need in our teacher-training institutions. I’ve had principals and teachers say to me that they don’t know how to lead in a crisis. So, we now need, in our teacher-training institutions, to have crisis management as a compulsory course,” she said.
