Black Immigrant Daily News

While agreeing that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an ‘enormous’ learning loss for Caribbean students, several stakeholders across the region, including in Jamaica, have crafted various strategies aimed at achieving learning recovery.

From the Jamaican perspective, Education Officer at the Ministry of Education and Youth, Dr Lorna Thompson, said mass media had been utilised to assist students, parents and teachers to continue the business of education throughout the pandemic.

“We decided that we would use radio, we would use television, we would use learning kits, and the newspaper… We also had our WhatsApp groups going,” outlined Thompson on Thursday.

She was among several panellists at the two-day virtual staging of the sixth Amazing Math Powers and Literacy Conference 2022, hosted by The Book Merchant in collaboration with Shortwood Teachers’ College and the Jamaica Teaching Council.

Thompson pointed out that the Education Ministry also paid particular attention to the emotional and social wellbeing of students.

“We tried so many different character education; the integrity, the respect for others, the respect for self,” she indicated.

The education officer said t with the first full resumption of face-to-face engagement since the COVID-19 pandemic, the support from the ministry will continue, especially with new teachers joining the classrooms fresh from training institutions, to fill the gaps left by teachers who have resigned.

“We have to support our teachers, because some of our teachers have gone to advance the welfare of the whole human race, and so, those who have been left behind, we have to now train them…, especially the college students,… and continue to support them. So we will recover and we are on the road to recovery,” said Thompson.

Acting Assistant Director of Education in the Ministry of Education in The Bahamas, Leja Burrows, explained that her country shares similar challenges with learning loss relative to its students.

She said the COVID-19 pandemic impacted school attendance and then later created a situation which she described as “unfinished learning”.

“During the summer, we held an intense tutoring programme, where students were identified as being below the expected levels. We had four weeks, and this provided a smaller class grouping and individual education plan and streamlined timetable for literacy and numeracy,” Burrows stated.

For the upcoming academic year, Burrows said a plan will be developed with various regional partners such as CARICOM, to implement best practices in creating instructional programmes.

“We have to address absenteeism, and so, we have hired 25 new attendant officers, and they are going to canvas the communities during school hours, to ensure that every child is attending school,” she stated.

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, she emphasised the positive impact of the technological development on the delivery of education and the efficiency it has created on the administrative side within that island’s school system.

Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education in Belize, Dr Carol Babb, said the pandemic has highlighted the struggle of educational stakeholders globally, to put systems in place to address the negative impacts on education.

“We have to look at students’ academic performance, but, also, very importantly, on their social and emotional learning,” she indicated.

In Belize, Babb said focus should be placed on learning recovery there.

“I think our emphasis should be on literacy and numeracy. For us, many of the most deserving students, they have been literally not been engaged because most of them don’t have the devices, (and) most of them don’t have access to internet,” she pointed out.

As regional education now focuses on technology, Babb said her country must now focus on finding ways to ensure that students have the relevant learning devices.

“I also believe we need to support our teachers. This is a very difficult time for them, because the learning loss is huge, and if we look at early childhood, there are a number of students who have never been to school.

“So, we need to provide quality support to our teachers, to ensure that they are meeting the needs of our students, and I also think we need to involve our parents more,” stated Babb.

Mark Garland, the Deputy Director of Education in the Turks and Caicos Islands Ministry of Education, also disclosed that there has been learning loss in that country among students.

To address the issue, Garland said the country has partnered with CARICOM and other agencies in the creation of a programme called ‘Let’s Reap’.

“Let’s Reap is really a learning recovery programme designed to address the learning loss from the unprecedented disruptions in education and help students, teachers and parents, to meet learning outcomes at appropriate grade levels,” he shared.

Though admitting that the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the British overseas territory, Garland asserted that the country has “arisen” from them.

“We are equipped to deliver quality education to our students, and to ensure that what was delivered during the pandemic, they have an opportunity to catch up and make an effort to retain that syllabus that was lost,” he indicated.

Meantime, Chief Executive Officer of The Book Merchant Limited, Sharon Elliot, said the two-day workshop has been held annually to “positively impact the lives of Caribbean people”.

“I encourage you to get as much out of this (the workshop) as possible. Think long and hard about the impact you can have, and let us all aim for the maximum that will create meaningful and long-lasting change,” she urged the educators.

The Book Merchant Limited has a longstanding history of investing in the capacity building of educators, and teaching quality through the provision of professional development resources and training and development programmes across the Caribbean.

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PNM Tobago leader Ancil Dennis –

PNM Tobago Council political leader Ancil Dennis has labelled THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine callous for his treatment of local contractors.

Dennis was speaking with Newsday on the $390 million owed to contractors by the assembly.

Augustine has blamed the previous PNM administration’s pre-election spending for the assembly’s debts. On July 22, he said contractors would begin to meet individually with an independent team to discuss the way forward to receive their money.

Dennis said: “This Chief Secretary promised to make payments to these contractors several months ago, and he made a firm commitment to them at a face-to-face meeting. He has now reneged on that commitment, citing ‘due diligence,’ as if he suddenly realised this, notwithstanding his initiation of an audit more than seven months ago.”

He said Augustine was being insensitive and had betrayed his responsibility as a Tobago leader. He argued that Augustine showed his true colours when he raged that he did not care about the Tobago contractors and their bank-related challenges.

“This mishmash of excuses and bombast is quite unfortunate and only serves to further damage indigenous Tobago businesses, while further destabilising the Tobago economy. It is ironic, even frightening, that while the Chief Secretary galleries and misleads, the PDP decision-makers are quietly giving contracts in the dead of night, as he likes to call it, to their friends from Trinidad.”

He said the previous PNM administration engaged in a programme of infrastructural works over a two-year period. This, he said, was aimed at achieving two very important objectives, among others: to quickly and effectively resolve long-standing infrastructural issues and make other critical interventions to protect both public and private infrastructure, as well as to stimulate the construction sector and provide employment opportunities and economic stimulation during the pandemic period, which had left many unemployed.

“A number of Tobago communities benefited by having flooding and other infrastructural issues resolved. The design-build-finance (DBF) procurement model was used, to allow the THA to get the work done without the need for upfront financing, but with a commitment to periodic payments over a reasonable period.

“This arrangement was honoured by the previous administration, but if the Chief Secretary is convinced that THA administrators, engineers, quantity surveyors, internal auditors and other public servants are either corrupt or incompetent to the extent that an external audit of these programs is required, then he is entitled to allay his concerns.”

He added: “However, his posture and the developments and conduct within his own administration suggest that this is more about political victimisation and arrogance than any genuine concern about corruption. The present reality is that while the audit drags on with callously unfulfilled promises of part payment, we are witnessing the destruction of Tobago businesses and, by extension, Tobagonians.”

Newsday understands that three contractors have met with the independent team “but no one has been paid.”

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For the weekend of August 26th to 29th 2022, Saint Lucia Fire Service made atotal of 116 ambulance responses, included were 10 responses to motor vehicular incidents and 3 shooting incidents. 6 fire responses were recorded.

 On Saturday August 27th 2022, at 1:56 p.m., an emergency response to a structural fire at Odsan was made by officers of the Fire Service headquarters.

An approximately 12×12 feet wooden structure was found completely destroyed. The remnants of the fire were extinguished by the fire suppression team. No one was reported injured by this incident.

 On Saturday August 27th 2022, at 11:36 p.m., emergency personnel at the Fire Service Headquarters responded to a call for assistance relating to a suspected shooting incident at Roseau, Castries.

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A physical assessment revealed that a 33-year-old male sustained a penetrating wound. Emergency care was provided to him then he was transported to a hospital where he was handed over to a medical practitioner for further management of his injury.

 Emergency personnel at the Vieux Fort Fire Station and Crash Fire Hallresponded to a structure fire at Haro’s Plus Bar in Vieux Fort on Sunday August 28th , 2022 at 7:15 a.m.

Smoke was seen emitting from the rear end of the building which housed several businesses. After extinguishment of the fire, damage to the contents of a tailor shop and a photo lab were noted.

No one was injured and no other property was affected by this incident.

 On Sunday August 28th 2022, at 12:08 a.m., emergency personnel at the Babonneau Fire Station responded to a call for assistance relating to an alleged shooting incident at Roseau, Castries.

A 29-year-old patient was found accompanied by police officers. A physical assessment of the patient revealed that he sustained penetrating wounds.

Emergency intervention was provided to him then he was transported to a medical facility for further management of his injuries.

 At 03:11 a.m. on Monday August 29th 2022, emergency personnel from the Babonneau Fire Station responded to a call relating to a shooting incident at La Guerre, Babonneau.

Assessment of a 25-year-old male revealed that he presented an apparent sign of death.

Due to the nature of this incident, the individual was left in the care of police officers.

SOURCE: Saint Lucia Fire Service

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Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon. –

TRADE and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon is at home in isolation after testing positive for covid19.

At a media conference on Monday at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, the Prime Minister apologised for her absence. The media conference was to announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Jamaica and TT regarding trade and settling trade disagreements.

In July Dr Rowley contracted the virus for a second time, and on both occasions worked while in isolation. Neither Rowley nor the Trade Ministry said whether Gopee-Scoon will do likewise.

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