There is a plan to assign a mentor to every adolescent mother who enrols at the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF). The WCJF, a division of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, was established in 1978 to provide continuing education for girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy. The plan is one of the recommendations...

The National Education Inspectorate (NEI) has implemented several strategies to ensure that the inspection of schools to assess the quality of learning and the provision for learning in Jamaica’s schools continue. This was stated by Chief Executive Officer and Chief Inspector of the NEI, Maureen Dwyer, during an interview with JIS News. “We are concerned about accountability, about excellence and...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says interventions undertaken in Mount Salem, St. James, since the community was declared a Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO) in 2017, have significantly transformed the area. “We have removed zinc fences…we have repaired roadways, we have cleared drains, we have regular waste collection in the area, we have given the citizenry access to...

Residents of Russia in Westmoreland are grateful for the water warden programme, which has the objective of ensuring more reliable access to water supply in the community. Under the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP), persons have been equipped with skills in plumbing, with leak detection and water conservation expertise. They will work with the National...

When newly minted Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) COVID-19 Ambassador, Krystal Francis, heard that she was selected to play a national role in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), she was excited. Excited, because she sees the programme as a platform that will help the tourism sector to recover, which could also help her colleagues who...

Jamaica owes a great deal of respect and gratitude to retired Agriculturalist, Lieutenant Colonel Hubert Lounges, whose 43 years of outstanding service to local agriculture will continue to positively impact the sector for generations to come. Mr. Lounges, who will be 93 on December 10, not only witnessed but played key roles in the sector that gave rise to a...

Swift River Happy Bee Production in Portland is a micro community enterprise with big plans. Over the next five years, the business, operated by the Swift River Community Development Committee (CDC) is looking to increase production from 10 gallons of honey per quarter to 200 gallons and also employ more people. “We want to create jobs for others so that...

Stakeholders in the Jamaican fisheries sector can expect significant improvements in the services they receive from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA), when the new web-based Fisheries Licensing and Registration System is implemented. Speaking with JIS News, Senior Fisheries Officer at the NFA, Ian Jones says that the system will reduce the processing time for applications. He states that the Authority...

Residents of the Buckfield community in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, say their newly renovated basketball and multipurpose playing courts are a welcome reprieve from the daily stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to JIS News during a recent visit to the community, residents added that they were also grateful to the Sandals Foundation for the approximately US$50,000 investment, noting that...