Caribbean News

Education Ministry rolls out Pilot Rural School Bus System September

Published

7 years ago

September 1, 2017

#Jamaica, September 1, 2017 – Kingston – The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will be rolling out a pilot Rural School Bus Transport System in September, through a special partnership with the Ministry of Transport and Mining.

This was disclosed by Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on August 28. The pilot will initially target students of the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH).

Students from 91 primary and secondary schools in eight parishes across the island will benefit from the pilot in the first phase. The parishes are St. Thomas, Portland, St. Mary, Clarendon, Manchester, St. Elizabeth, Hanover and St. James.

The Ministry has committed $200 million for the first year of the pilot and continues to have dialogue with members of the diaspora and international partners towards expansion of the project.

According to the Minister, data in the Ministry have revealed that PATH students significantly contribute to the absentee rate in public educational institutions, and the project will be key to addressing that problem.

“The school-bus project is one that we are very excited about and this is against the background that 20 per cent of our children generally are absent from school each day,” he said.

“When you look at the rural areas, particularly, the cost for transportation is extremely high, and we are very certain that it is a main contributory factor to the absenteeism,” he added.

The Minister noted that benefits are provided through PATH at school, but many of the students are still challenged to get to school. He highlighted the fact that the Ministry had previously closed some small schools and entered into contractual arrangements with private operators to transport students from the closed schools to the placed schools.

“We are expanding and integrating that transport system. We will also be expanding the services of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company into the Old Harbour, May Pen and Manchester areas, in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and Mining, and many students now will benefit from the same costs of transportation as in the Corporate Area,” Senator Reid pointed out.

The Minister said that there will be similar capacity in the west, where Montego Bay Metro will cover parts of Trelawny, St. James and Hanover. “We are working with Minister (Mike) Henry (in Transport and Mining) to see if we can have a network of buses to cover the main corridors, and then we can take smaller buses to meet them at joined-up points,” he explained.

Senator Reid said that the Government has a vision of building out a network for a fully operational national school-bus system. The objectives of the pilot include the provision of a safe mode of transportation, scheduled transportation for targeted schools, affordable transportation for students and improving the attendance of students in rural areas.

PR: JIS

Caribbean News

STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS EXPECTED TO ASSIST GOV’T PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Published

2 days ago

April 30, 2024

Shanieka

KINGSTON, April 29 (JIS):

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the outcome of discussions arising from the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) will assist in guiding the Government’s planning for climate change.

This, he points out, is important for climate mitigation as well as building Jamaica’s resilience.

“We look forward to the discussions that will, no doubt, take place. We look forward to the basis of planning for the Government to streamline its investments to ensure you have the tools that you need to better advise us, that the WRA (Water Resources Authority) has the tools to digitise its monitoring network, and that all of the agencies that touch our planning mechanisms have the tools. But we need to know what we are facing, and we’re guided by your expertise,” Minister Samuda said.

He was addressing the opening ceremony for the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (April 29).

Senator Samuda said given the fact that the climate has changed and continues to do so, investments in and collaborations on building Jamaica’s predictive and scientific capacity must be prioritised.

“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue.

“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year, we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.

Principal Director, Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, explained that the forum aims to, among other things, establish a collaboration platform for climate services providers and users to understand risks and opportunities of past, present and future climate developments, as well as improve inter-agency coordination of policies, plans and programmes.

Among the other presenters were Ambassador, European Union to Jamaica, Her Excellency Marianne Van Steen; Chief Scientist/Climatologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Adrian Trotman; and Head, Regional Climate Prediction Services, World Meteorological Organization, Wilfran Moufouma-Okia.

The Meteorological Service of Jamaica hosted the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) in partnership with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology and the World Meteorological Organization.

The National Stakeholder Consultation is a governance mechanism that guides how different sectors or actors work together to create products that contribute to adaptation and resilience-building. It seeks to create a road map for the development and implementation of climate services to inform decision-making.

NCF-1 aims to bridge the gap between climate providers and users. It increases the use of science-based information in decision-making and operations with the aim of generating and delivering co-produced and co-designed products and services.

CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON

Caribbean News

Haiti- ECHO humanitarian efforts

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff writer

#Haiti#Crisis#HumanitarianEfforts#ECHO, April 23rd, 2024 – Due to the worsening Humanitarian crisis in Haiti with an increase in death toll and injured people, The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), launched an emergency airlift of 5 flights carrying essentials which include up to 62 tons of medicine as well as emergency shelter equipment, and water and sanitation items. These were brought to Cap Haitien according to a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on April 19, as the international Airport in Port au prince remains closed following the gang attack last month.

Caribbean News

Dominica repeals laws criminalizing gay sex

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#Dominica#LGBTQIA, April 24, 2034- Dominica has decided to remove colonial era laws that criminalized gay sex, joining Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda.

This comes almost five years after a man of the queer community, whose identity was withheld for his safety, spoke out against Dominica’s laws in 2019, saying they violated his rights.