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JAMAICA: Prime Minister Emphasizes Importance of Reading

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#Jamaica, May 09, 2018 – Kingston – Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, is imploring parents to be more involved in getting the children to hone their reading skills, as this will ensure their cognitive prowess is also developed.

“Reading is actually a learnt skill, and you have to be very involved in the development of the reading skill with your child,” he said.

The Prime Minister was speaking to journalists after participating in a reading session with students of the St. Joseph’s Infant School in downtown Kingston today (May 8) as part of Read Across Jamaica Day.

Mr. Holness also distributed reading books to the students.  He lamented that parents may assume their children are able to read once they hear them speaking, but in fact, they have not developed the comprehension skills in order to understand what they are reading and are merely “counting words”.

“There are many students in school who are counting words, but they can’t communicate through reading and they are not gaining any understanding.  Parents will oftentimes hear their children counting the words, but not reading them in a way that either communicates a meaning to people listening or themselves gaining understanding,” he said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the active participation of parents in asking, “what do you think this means?” or explaining to children what something they have read means, is an important part of the reading process.

Mr. Holness stressed that reading is an important skill that helps to build confidence from an early age, and will help persons later in life to express themselves well in all settings.

“There are many Jamaicans who are very shy in speaking in a formal setting because they may feel challenged with the language, but if you have your child reading in an expressive way from an early age, they will overcome that nervousness and they will be more assertive in themselves, and they will be able to speak and project,” he said.

During the event, the Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Member of Parliament for West Kingston and Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, interacted with the students and read storybooks to them.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister signed the school’s guest book. In his comment, he lauded the St. Joseph’s Infant School on being a model early-childhood institution, and described the principal, Rose Marie Clarke, as an outstanding educator, who is innovative and passionate.

Mrs. Clarke told JIS News that the Prime Minister’s visit to the school has left a huge impression on the students.

“(It says to them that) if I want to be a Prime Minister, I must be able to read.  So, they may want to search out that book he read to them and that will spark the interest, and that is why we think that coupling Read Across Jamaica Day with (our) Career Fair and getting anybody from the plumber to the Prime Minister to come (and interact with them), our students will see the importance of reading,” she said.

Read Across Jamaica Day forms part of activities to mark Child Month, which is being celebrated in May.

 

Release: JIS

 

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CARPHA Progresses to Eligibility for the First Disbursement of Pandemic Funding

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Following a landmark Public Signing Ceremony for the Pandemic Fund (PF) Technical Cooperation Agreement (“Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Prevention, Preparedness, and Response” [RG-T4387] Project) on December 14, 2023, in Trinidad, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) continues to progress towards the start of implementation.

 CARPHA fulfilled the IDB’s nine conditions prior to first disbursement, achieving full eligibility on March 15, 2024, and is now eligible for the first disbursement. This milestone achievement in just 3 months after the signing speaks to the commitment of both CARPHA, the Executing Agency, and IDB, the Implementing Entity, toward the regional PF project with the objective of supporting the reduction of the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean by building pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) surveillance & early-warning systems (EWS), laboratory systems and workforce capacity, regionally at CARPHA and in countries.

Since the signing of the Technical Cooperation Agreement and as part of the conditions prior to first disbursement, CARPHA has achieved the following key outputs (i) the development of the PF Project Operations Manual, Multi-annual Execution Plan, Procurement Plan, Financial Plan, Procedure for CARPHA’s Financial Reporting System; (ii) vacancy announcements for two tranches of consultants with the subsequent hiring of five (Technical Coordinator, Financial Specialist, Procurement Specialist, Operations Officer and Project Operations Coordinator) and (iii) the establishment of the Project Execution Unit (PEU) and Project Execution Steering Committee (PESC). The dedicated PEU will be responsible for execution according to its planned timelines, which will be led by the Dr. Lisa Indar, the Project Director (CARPHA’s Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control Division).

 CARPHA, as the lead regional public health agency and an expression of Caribbean Cooperation in Health is mandated by its Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) to support its 26 CARPHA Member States (CMS) in bolstering national systems and coordinating regional response to public health threats. The Agency works closely with regional and international agencies and uses regional mechanisms, surveillance systems, and networks for coordinating its public health response work.

In July 2023, the PF Governing Board announced that CARPHA’s regional entity proposal, entitled ‘Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Strengthened Integrated Early Warning Surveillance, Laboratory Systems and Workforce Development’ was successfully selected for the first round of financing. It was one of only 19 proposals selected from over 300 submissions and the only regional project. The three priority areas in the proposal are: (i) Comprehensive disease surveillance and EWS, (ii) Laboratory systems and (iii) Human resources and public health and community workforce capacity.

This project is expected to begin implementation in March 2024, starting off with a blended onboarding session. A Stakeholder Meeting with countries is tentatively planned for July 2024.

CARPHA remains dedicated to working together with the IDB, CARPHA Member States and the Pandemic Fund to successfully implement the regional proposal geared toward reducing the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean.

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Men who had Murdered Man, Marley Higgs’ cell phone face Court

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Wilkie Arthur

Freelance Court Correspondent

The prosecution intends to try two young North Caicos men, both age 21 for the offense of possession of property of a murdered man, property that was stolen and landed in their possession.

The phone belonged to Peureton ‘Marley’ Higgs, who is believed to have been an innocent gunned down at his apartment complex in the Glass Shack area in a spray of bullets on February 2 that killed another man and wounded two others, including a ten-year-old little girl.

The cell phone was described as white in colour, an iPhone, in a hard black case. 

On Monday, March 18th, JEFFVANO HANDFIELD of North Caicos pleaded not guilty to the offense, and the matter was adjourned to April 2024. He was granted bail in the matter.

A second North Caicos man was charged similarly.  

SARENO CAPELLAN aka, Kino Williams is the second individual brought before the court pertaining to the said cellphone. He appeared in court a week after JEFFVANO HANDFIELD, the date being Monday March 25th 2024.

The case for the Crown is that both men sometime in February of this year possessed the cellphone knowing or suspecting it to be stolen property.

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Supreme Court Closed for Easter

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NOTICE is hereby given that the Easter Recess shall commence on Friday 29th April, 2024 and end on Friday 5th April, 2024. During the Easter Recess Judge Selochan will be available to deal only with matters that are urgent or require prompt attention.

Court Business During the Easter Recess

A person who wishes to have a matter heard during the recess must file a certificate of urgency along with an affidavit, which must set out the reasons why the matter is urgent or requires prompt attention. The matter will not be listed during the recess unless the Judge deems it fit for urgent hearing.

Opening Hours During the Easter Holiday

The Supreme Court’s last sitting day for the first term is Thursday 28th March, 2024. The Court will officially resume sittings on Monday 8th April, 2024. The Supreme Court Offices in both Grand Turk and Providenciales will continue to operate while the Court is not sitting during the recess.

The Court Office will be closed on the following public holidays:

  • Friday 29th March, 2024 (Good Friday) CLOSED
  • Monday 1st April, 2024 (Easter Monday) CLOSED

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