KINGSTON, Jamaica — Some 4,000 students from 17 primary schools across the island will benefit from initiatives to boost literacy and numeracy under the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) Youth Education and Recreation Cycle 3 Project.

The $38-million project involves partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and is being implemented in the parishes of St James, Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon and St Ann.

It is aimed at improving academic performance and general youth development by providing support for educational and recreational activities and programmes.

JSIF Social Development Officer, Shunelle Nevers, told JIS News that a sum of $12 million has been allocated to this tranche of the project, which is focused on improving quality educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy. It is scheduled to run until May 2020.                                   

“We are providing learning and teaching aids and equipment to help the children in these schools to learn in different ways. We are also training 51 teachers –three from each school – to incorporate the new materials in their daily classroom activities,” she noted.

Nevers told JIS News that already, schools in Kingston and St Andrew have been equipped with the necessary materials.

All schools should be provided with the required equipment by the end of August, to commence activities for the new school year.

In addition, maths and literacy coaches in the selected schools have participated in workshops as part of a ‘train the trainer’ exercise and are now mandated to impart the knowledge gained to their colleagues.

Nevers said that the trainers will have up to December 2019 to provide the schedule for JSIF and the education ministry personnel to go into the schools and monitor the training activities.

The ministry and JSIF will also monitor how the equipment is being utilised in the classrooms to enhance learning.