SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Minister of Education Rev Ronald Thwaites says his ministry is currently working on a plan to have special education teachers in schools islandwide by 2018.

“We are engaging in a fulsome programme for special education. It is our dream that by 2018 there will be a trained special education teacher available to every school in Jamaica. Every school,” Rev Thwaites emphasised.

He said he is hoping that the Rockhouse Foundation will be able to bring technical specialists into the island to assist with the training of the island’s local teachers in that area.

“One of the things on my agenda to further discuss with Peter (Rose) is, because of Rockhouse International connections, they can bring to us technical skills that we don’t have in Jamaica. I don’t think we have half a dozen speech therapists or occupation therapists here in Jamaica. Maybe developmental skills can be a part of the gift if our friends from abroad can train our teachers who are so receptive, so anxious for knowledge, so that our children may grow stronger and achieve that full potential,” expressed Rev Thwaites.

He was speaking during a groundbreaking ceremony on the campus of the Sir Clifford Campbell Primary School in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, last Friday, for the construction of an early childhood educational institution, catering to children with special needs.

The project is being facilitated under a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry of Education and Rockhouse Foundation — the non-profit, charitable arm of the Negril-based Rockhouse Hotel in Westmoreland.

The memorandum of understanding between the two entities, was also signed during the ceremony.

The facility, expected to be constructed at a cost of roughly $45 million, will prepare students with special needs for transition and integration into the regular general classroom, thereby enabling their interaction with youngsters in that setting and access to similar teaching instructions delivered to those pupils.

“The school will be a one of a kind in Jamaica where children of all abilities will be learning in the same place, but more importantly where parents and children who don’t attend the school will be able to come here, learn more about the developmental issues that their children may have, work with them, and where teachers as well can come and get training and better understanding of how to manage the needs of children with special needs. So, it’s not just a school that we are creating, it is a centre of excellence, a centre of training, a centre of support for children and families and typically those with special needs, but all children,” said Rose, the president of Rockhouse Foundation.

He said the project was conceptualised five years ago following discussions with a member of the Rockhouse Hotel’s staff, who advised him of challenges she experienced in getting her autistic child assessed, and in identifying an institution in Westmoreland in which to enrol the youngster.

“I had a personal dialogue with a staff member at Rockhouse Hotel with which we are affiliated, and that parent had a child with autism and she was desperate for services, lives in Westmoreland and there was no service available. And when I had that conversation some five years ago, we were in the midst of another project and could not commit to doing something immediately. As soon as we were able to think about the next project, that was the direction I was convinced that we needed to take and develop a school for children with special needs,” explained Rose.

The school will be maintained by the foundation, while the nutrition and staffing needs will be filled by the Ministry of Education.

At the end of the projected three-year construction period, the institution will be equipped with developmental and physical needs equipment and a centre for training teachers in this special area.

However, the first set of classrooms are expected to be completed in time for the admission of the first set of students, aged three years old, for the September 2016/2017 academic year.