“Oh, gosh! I’m blown away!” were the first words uttered by Mark Sweeney shortly after he was presented with the keys to and documents for his new home. Two hundred homes were handed over at SilverSun Estate in St Catherine on Wednesday by the...
Vendors and fisherfolk at Hellshire Beach in St Catherine are appealing to the Government to keep beaches open as they attempt to recover from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond...
It was George Williams’ first Sunday as a free man, and his family made certain that he had a hearty dinner and experienced the warmth and togetherness of being at home in Ewarton, St Catherine. The 71-year-old was released last week after spending...
Young Jamaican actor Sule Kamu Thelwell is among the cohort of 17 students accepted to The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London for the upcoming academic year. He is ecstatic about the acceptance but is faced with one major barrier:...
TEN-YEAR-OLD RICQUAN Wright never sat in a grade-five class at St Michael’s Primary School. He exuded confidence and displayed a brilliant work ethic that propelled his teacher to recommend that he sit the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams, a year...
Students of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, will be able to access medical care islandwide at private and public institutions come September 2020, following the passing of an extended health-card policy led by the students’ guild....
Summer is generally an exciting time for students, but can also be hazardous for their educational growth owing to a lack of learning new material and not reviewing the old. Former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Elaine Foster-...
Maciann McDermott was all smiles as she waited in the procession of vehicles decorated with balloons, banners and other paraphernalia for Dunrobin Primary School’s drive-through graduation on Thursday. For the first in more than three months, she...
The National Family Planning Board (NFPB) has launched a campaign geared at promoting health-seeking behaviours among pregnant women. Globally, every one to two minutes, a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth. Jamaica’s maternal death rate stands...
THE PRINCIPAL credited for the transformation of Constitution Hill Primary and Infant School is one of two Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) president-elect candidates for the 2020-2021 administrative year. With a population of 42 students and a...
Once ringfenced without portfolios in the Office of the Prime Minister, veteran politicians Karl Samuda and Mike Henry have been given a second wind with full appointments to the respective portfolios of education and labour. The endorsement by...
TWENTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD ALEC Martin, a Jamaican living in the United States, always desired to be his own boss. That hunger drove him to sink his teeth in the rough and tumble of entrepreneurship by learning from his dad, a dentist and businessman. “...
“IT’S A mixture of emotions. I’m nervous and I’m extremely excited,” said Ruth-Ann Findlay yesterday after returning to school three months after COVID-19 containment measures resulted in the suspension of physical classes. “Coming to school...
Black smoke billowed from cars set on fire and debris blocked the intersection of Waltham Park and Hagley Park roads in Kingston as residents of Cockburn Gardens protested the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Jermaine ‘Shawn‘ Ferguson yesterday...
IN NORMAL times, Zavia Cunningham guides her students through the structured Spanish curriculum with face-to-face encouragement. But since March 13, the Wolmer’s Boys’ School teacher has had to find innovative ways to execute effective remote...
A retired educator has launched a YouTube channel dedicated to storytelling, aiming to ignite a passion for reading in young children. Pop Story Gimme features stories narrated with a Caribbean flavour by Joyce Thompson, who hails from Darliston,...
CLASSROOMS CRAMMED with up to 40 students will be a rare sight at secondary schools across Jamaica come June 8. Visits to schools across the Corporate Area where preparations are under way to facilitate exam refreshers showed classrooms that would...
Near-four-decade veteran District Constable Morris Walker was scheduled to proceed on retirement on June 29 but won’t get an opportunity to bask in the fruits of his labour. It was a sombre mood at the Cross Roads Police Station in Kingston on...
School administrators and secondary-school students have criticised the decision to change exam dates, with the acting president of the Association of Principals and Vice Principals, Lynton Weir, expressing “serious concern” about performance...
Residents of Rum Lane in downtown Kingston have backed themselves to rise from the ashes of Wednesday’s fire that gutted several dwellings. But their rebound rests on how quickly they can get help in procuring building and roofing material to start...
COVID-19 has put many significant events on hold, but many couples have remained determined to tie the knot. The Registrar General’s Department (RGD) offers registry weddings at 10 locations islandwide and has been an ideal option for scores bound...
Systems glitches doomed yesterday's historic online vote for the student government at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, forcing a postponement to June 2. The decision was made late yesterday following consultation with the...
AS THEY refine the education ministry’s coronavirus protocols for the reopening of schools on June 8 for exam preparations, Jamaican administrators are in a race against time to overcome logistical and other challenges. The face-to-face classes are...
Parents and guardians preparing to return to worksites as COVID-19 restrictions ease next month are now mulling over another quandary: whether to risk sending their children to daycare. Others who have lost jobs or suffered steep pay cuts can’t...
AN ANALYSIS by the World Bank’s Education Global practice has shown that some Caribbean countries are off track to meet the global learning goals. “Even before the COVID pandemic, we were already faced with a very serious challenge in education,...
