Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says teachers will be provided with the tools to deal with students with special needs. In an interview with JIS News, he said the Ministry is fully aware of the challenges teachers face when dealing with these students, and they should be commended for their level of empathy and the work they have been doing.
The Government is to expand its partnership with the Mico University College, to fill gaps in the area of special education, so that more students with learning challenges can receive timely intervention. State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, says despite gains made in tackling the issue of learning by some students, “significant gaps still remain among the nation’s teachers to detect children with special needs, and appropriately address them.”
The Government will be aiming to strengthen the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC) as a way of getting parents more involved in the academic affairs of their children. Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, made the remark at the Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s (JTA) 15th Annual Education Conference at the Jewel Runaway Bay Beach and Golf Resort in St. Ann on March 29.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will begin full the roll-out of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Curriculum in schools when the 2016/17 academic year gets underway in September. This follows the success of the pilot introduced in 49 institutions across the island in September 2015. The curriculum will be implemented in over 500 primary and secondary institutions across the Ministry’s six regions.
The Ministry of Energy, Science, and Technology is working to strengthen the security of the Tablets in Schools programme before the next phase is rolled out. Portfolio Minister, Hon. Dr. Andrew Wheatley, said the measures include enhancing the capability to track the devices in the event that they are lost or stolen. There will also be improvements in relation to internet safety in order to prevent access to inappropriate content online.