Grenada improving education and training for students

Published on Saturday, June 6, 2009

ST GEORGE'S Grenada (GIS) -- The government of Grenada says it is moving to address the World Bank’s concern that school leavers are not sufficiently skilled to support business and enterprise demands.

In this regard, Parliament on Monday agreed to an EC$1.9 million loan from the World Bank to improve the quality of education and training offered to students in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

In 2006, the financial institution issued a report indicating that Grenada faces the biggest regional challenge with regard to the skills of its population. The report ranked Grenada last in the Western Hemisphere.

Government officials have been working feverishly to rectify the problem which Finance Minister Nazim Burke, Leader of Government Business in the Lower House, has described as a cause for alarm.

Burke, who is also Minister of Economic Development, said the aim is to improve the quality of education, as well as strengthen the management of education. He said counselling was among five areas identified for special recognition in the education improvement plan.

“It is no secret that one of the major shortcomings of our education system has been the lack of trained counsellors to assist and guide our young people in their career development choices,” Minister Burke said.

“This program provides for 20 counsellors at the undergraduate level, an additional 12 at the master’s level, which I believe will go a long way in the quality of education in our country.”

Over 17,000 primary and secondary school students stand to benefit from the program.

OAS Launches Fund on Education for Democracy

Published on Tuesday, April 14, 2009

WASHINGTON, USA -- The Department of Education and Culture (DEC) of the Organization of American States (OAS) has launched a Cooperation Fund for Technical Assistance Missions between OAS Member States in education for democratic citizenship and related fields such as education on peace, democracy, diversity and human rights, among others.

The purpose of the Fund is to strengthen Member States’ ability to design and implement effective policies and programs that encourage the development of a culture of democracy and peace through education.

The Fund, which will be allocated through a competitive process, will finance travel for technical assistance missions to enable a country with specific expertise in a particular topic to travel to or be visited by another country or countries which could benefit from that technical expertise.

The Fund promotes bilateral and multilateral cooperation among governmental institutions of the OAS Member States, such as among Ministries of Education, and also among governmental institutions from one country and other types of institutions from another country (non-governmental organizations, universities and private institutions, for instance).

The need and characteristics of the cooperation must be identified and negotiated directly between the parties, who must sign a written agreement of commitment before submitting the proposal for consideration.

The parties must also submit a request form, which includes a justification of need, a draft agenda for the mission, and a preliminary budget, among other documents.

The deadline to receive requests from interested parties is May 15, 2009, by emailing the required documentation to Adriana Cepeda (acepeda@oas.org) and Jorge Baxter (jbaxter@oas.org).

Successful applicants will be selected by June 5. The missions are expected to be carried out between July and October, 2009. This Fund is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Permanent Mission of the United States to the OAS.

The Fund is based on a similar successful model developed by the Cooperation Fund of the Inter-American Network for Labor Administration which is coordinated by the OAS Department of Social Development and Employment (www.sedi.oas.org/ddse/rial).

The Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices is an alliance officially adopted by the ministers of education of OAS member states through CIDI/RME/RES. 12 (IV-O/05) at the IV Meeting of the Ministers of Education held in Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago on August 11th and 12th, 2005.

The objective of the Program is to promote a democratic and peaceful culture through education. See more at: http://www.educadem.oas.org

Seven Bahamians received Organization of American States scholarships to pursue studies aimed at further developing The Bahamas

By Lindsay Thompson

NASSAU, Bahamas (BIS) -- Seven Bahamians received Organization of American States scholarships to pursue studies aimed at further developing The Bahamas.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette presented the recipients with their certificates during a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 18. He was assisted by OAS representative Yvette Treco.

Symonette said it gave him “great pleasure to recognise the seven outstanding Bahamians considered amongst the best candidates who possess the potential to make significant and profound contributions to this society.”

The OAS scholarship recipients in the graduate programme are Marcellus Taylor, education and planning; Latoya Johnson, international trade and finance; Indira Adderley, management science; Kenton Burrows, geographic information systems; and Jason Carey, molecular biology. Students in the undergraduate programme are Mikhail Bullard, criminology and political economics; and Lesvie Clare, international hospitality and tourism.

The candidates had between January and March this year to apply online to the OAS, which submitted the applications to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A selection committee met with and interviewed the candidates and the scholarships were granted based on their area of study.

The OAS Undergraduate and Graduate Scholarship Award programmes date back to 1958. It is financed by the governments of member states as a means of contributing to their integral development.

The Bahamas became a member of the OAS on March 3, 1982 and since 1984, seventy-nine Bahamians have been awarded scholarships.

“While our scholars are all different and possess different strengths and talents, they all possess some common traits. "They have all distinguished themselves in terms of their consistently high academic performance. They have been very active in extracurricular activities and they have shown leadership potential. “These are all well-defined criteria in the OAS scholarship selection process, and I salute them for the remarkable way they have developed themselves.” Symonette said.

He thanked the selection committee, which is comprised of representatives from the Bahamas' OAS Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, and the College of the Bahamas for their dedication in the process. “Your respective fields are tools to assist in building our country’s, to enhance the social well-being and to safeguard our democratic values. “With this awareness, I am confident that, upon completion of your studies, you will all make lasting contributions to the Bahamas and gain great personal satisfaction from your careers,” Mr Symonette said.

Jamaican students receive scholarships to study in Cuba

Published on Wednesday, June 17, 2009

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) -- A total of 26 Jamaican students have been awarded scholarships to study at universities in Cuba, under the 2009/10 Cuban Scholarship Programme.

The scholarship awards, which were presented by Cuba's Ambassador to Jamaica, Gisela Garcia Rivera, at a ceremony held on Sunday in Kingston, will enable the students to pursue study in the fields of medicine, architecture, pharmacy, physical education and sports, and humanities.

Jodi-Ann Jones, one of 20 students, who will study medicine, expressed gratitude for the award. "I felt very grateful for the opportunity because without it I don't know how I would have been able to study medicine, because it is a lot of money, so I'm very thankful and looking forward to going to Cuba and doing my best and making everyone proud," she told JIS News.

Shaneka Frazer, who will study pharmacy, said she was elated after hearing the news. "It is amazing. I will get to learn a new language. I am still in shock, happy, excited and everything," she said. Shaneka, a former student of Mannings High School in Westmoreland, told JIS News that she is familiar with the Spanish language having obtained Grade 2 at the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) level. "I am really good with the reading and writing but not so good with the conversation so that will pose a kind of challenge...but I think I am ready," she stated.

Another scholarship winner, Javaine Loney, is also looking forward to experiencing a new culture. "When I got the call that I have been successful with the scholarship I was very, very excited; words cannot express," he said. Head of the Cuba/Jamaica Collaboration Unit, Jorge Crespo, informed that since 2005, the Cuban Embassy has received 1,002 applications for scholarships from Jamaican students.

"We have processed 824 applications from Jamaican applicants and we have awarded 253 scholarships to students studying higher courses," he informed. Crespo, who spoke through a translator, said the selection process was difficult. "We would really like to have the capacity to give more scholarships to all those candidates meeting the requirement but to date it is not possible," he noted.

Since 1961, some 50,000 students from 129 countries have graduated from Cuban universities, with more than 26,000 of these students completing higher level courses.

Currently, at least 50,000 students from 121 countries are studying in Cuba.

'GSAT Unfair!' - Non-Traditional High Schools Feel Cheated; Most Students Can Barely Read or Write

EDUCATORS AT non-traditional high schools across the island are facing an uphill battle because of the poor quality of students awarded places at their schools. They argue that the method used to place students who sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) is putting them under tremendous strain.


Published: Sunday June 21, 2009 - "Jamaica Gleaner"

Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

EDUCATORS AT non-traditional high schools across the island are facing an uphill battle because of the poor quality of students awarded places at their schools.

They argue that the method used to place students who sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) is putting them under tremendous strain.

Under the present system, the better-performing students are creamed off and sent to the traditional high schools, while the non-traditional high schools are left with students who struggle at the primary level.

Principals and teachers say they are constantly playing 'catch up', as the majority of the students they get are barely able to read or write, forcing them to spend much of their time conducting remedial classes.

They also get many of the students who are struggling with social and disciplinary problems or learning disabilities, which were not picked up at the primary level.

Traditionally, schools such as Campion College, Immaculate Conception, Munro College and Westwood High School for Girls receive the students with the top GSAT scores, while students with lower marks are sent to the recently upgraded high schools.

When The Sunday Gleaner checked with administrators of many non-traditional high schools last week, they said while they are willing to stand up to the challenges, the education ministry is putting them "behind the eight ball".

"Apart from giving us the weakest of the batch, the Ministry of Education is not providing us with the necessary facilities and equipment to effectively prepare these students for life after secondary school," the administrators said.

Grades below 30 per cent
A senior teacher at Spanish Town High School in St Catherine told The Sunday Gleaner that over the years, the majority of the students sent to the institution had GSAT grades below 30 per cent.

"We are given a bucket without a bottom," the teacher said. "You are being expected to make bread out of stone, which makes it unfair for the vast demands that are being made and the high expectations, especially when you take into consideration our limited resources," the veteran educator further stated.

"To get these students to a level where they are able to obtain high-quality passes at the CSEC level by the time they get to grade 11 is an enormous challenge," the teacher said. But that is not a challenge that these teachers in the non-traditional high schools are afraid to face.

Hopeton Henry, former president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association and principal of Seaforth High School, said many of the non-traditional high schools had implemented remedial programmes to help students.

"It is a lot of work because we have to do a lot of value added," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

The concerns of the administrators of the non-traditional high schools are shared by Education Minister Andrew Holness who has admitted that "GSAT has only served to create and reinforce the two-Jamaica syndrome".

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com