THE Jamaican Government has contracted the Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to train 800 local primary and all-age school principals under a US$3.27 million programme.

The university has already formed a partnership with the St Joseph’s Teachers College for the delivery of the training programmes in Jamaica. It will see 700 principals being trained locally and 100 in Canada.

On successful completion of the programme, the teachers will receive a principal’s diploma.

Details on the programme were outlined at Monday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

The programme, which forms part of a larger US$39.5 million Primary Education Support Project (PESP), is financed in part by a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.

Information Minister Burchell Whiteman said the broad-based diploma programme is designed “to ensure that there is continuous professional development”, and is aimed at “encouraging and permitting the greatest number of principals to acquire core training in education administration and leadership in the shortest possible time”.

The information minister said the training of the 700 principals in Jamaica will be accomplished through the use of distance education technology and will be delivered at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education and the St Joseph’s, Sam Sharpe and Bethlehem teachers’ colleges.

The programme will run for a maximum four months, full-time, for principals trained in Canada and one year part-time for those trained in Jamaica.

The programme will become part of the formal curriculum of St. Joseph’s at the end of the project, according to Whiteman.

In other Cabinet matters, Whiteman said the All Jamaica ‘all group’ Consumer Price Index for March 2003 was 1559.5, representing a 0.5 per cent increase over the index recorded for February 2003. The rate of inflation was minus 0.6 per cent for the month of February and minus 0.3 for January. For 2002/03 fiscal year, the rate of inflation is 6.2 per cent, 1.4 per cent below the 7.6 per cent recorded for the corresponding period in 2002.

Cabinet also announced the appointment of a new board for the Creative Production and Training Centre Ltd. (CPTC) for a two-year period effective April 1, 2003. The members are:

* Dr Hopeton Dunn, chairman;

* AC Stewart-Spencer;

* Berl Francis;

* Trevor Fearon;

* Fae Ellington;

* Carey Robinson;

* Orville Johnson;

* Sherine Shakes;

* John Aarons and;

* Jo-Anne Archibald, CEO, CPTC.