Plans Advanced to Build the First of Six Programmed STEM Schools

Plans are advanced to construct the first of six Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) schools, which are programmed to be built across the island.

Education and Youth Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, made the disclosure while addressing New Fortress Energy’s seventh annual tertiary scholarship awards ceremony on Tuesday (February 13) at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters in St. Andrew.

“Pretty soon you will see us breaking ground for one of our first STEM schools. There are six slated to be built in Jamaica, two per county, as well as a performing arts school. We are not just talking about it. The financing is in place, we have the team in place. We have just settled on the location and, in time, [you] will see us out there and we will be breaking ground,” she stated.

Minister Williams said the Government’s thrust towards education in STEM and in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) disciplines is intended to cultivate the talent necessary to chart Jamaica’s course for the future.

“We are serious about it. We are putting in place, not just the physical infrastructure, but, of course, coming out of our training colleges – out of [the University of Technology] UTech, out of UWI, [and] out of [the Caribbean Maritime University] CMU, the persons who will be helping us to ensure that all our students have access to STEM and STEAM education,” she noted.

“In the past, what we have been doing has been discreet subjects; we are not necessarily combining them. But that is where we want the focus to be, on allowing our students to see what happens when we bring together the different disciplines. Students, we are depending on you for that new Jamaica,” Minister Williams said.

The six new will serve as Centres of Excellence for STEM education.