Students from the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Lister Mair Gilby School for the Deaf walked away with top awards in the junior and senior categories of the inaugural UWI-UNICEF Special Mathematical Olympiad Champions 2026 on Thursday, held at the Department of Chemistry at the University of the West Indies, Mona.

Tevaughn Douglas and Kemario Anderson were the junior champions from Lister Mair Gilby School for the Deaf, Port Antonio, unit. Meanwhile, Kevaughn Thompson, Jahmarie Morales, Abria Bishop, Jhanelle Palmer and Katheriel Johnson of the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired were the senior champions.

The first of its kind in the region, a total of 53 special needs students, including those who are low vision, blind, deaf or hard of hearing, participated in the competition. The participants include senior and junior students from the Salvation Army School for the Blind and the Lister Mair Gilby School for the Deaf across its Portland, May Pen, Papine and Port Antonio units. Of the 53 students, 28 were low vision students or blind, and 25 were deaf.

All 53 participants were recognised during the award ceremony.

Professor Tannecia Stephenson, dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at UWI, Mona, lauded the competition as a “wonderful initiative” in helping students with special needs develop skills needed to excel.

“One of the key areas of our university is access. We consider this a wonderful initiative that has enabled access to each of you to activities and competitions that further develop the skills we all need to excel,” Stephenson said.

She further challenged the participants to continue to pursue their dreams until those dreams are realised.

“My challenge to you this morning is to continue to pursue your dreams. To persist with your dreams. Until you possess your dreams, we want to ask you to accept the University of the West Indies as one of your partners who support your dreams,” she added.

Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles Jr, who was also in attendance, reflected on the lessons learned from his mathematics teacher, who he said has taught him to love math and not to fear the subject.

“Not fearing math has caused me not to fear any subject. So anything you put before me, you break it down into smaller bits, and then you accumulate from there. So I want to say thank you to those teachers and thank you to all the teachers here who I know are making an impact with these students who are our future leaders,” Charles Jr said.

Meanwhile, the Labour minister urged parents and guardians with children with special needs who may require support to register with the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD).

“I want to encourage registration with the JCPD so you can get access to the support from the JCPD,” he urged.

Charles Jr also outlined additional financial aid programmes offered through the JCPD, such as the Margaret Moody Scholarship valued at $350,000 per recipient and an education assistance grant valued at $50,000 for education-related items.

“There’s assisted aid support that comes once you are registered with the JCPD, which is open, meaning there’s no limit to the amount of support you can get there once you can justify an allocation. The money is available, and all of this requires registration,” the minister said.

He also urged teachers to encourage students to participate in policies and make recommendations to the minister of education and youth in matters concerning them.

“I want to encourage you, teachers and guardians, to let them feel and let them know that the minister who has responsibility for this area welcomes their recommendations. Many of them would like to write; many of them want to send a note. We welcome their recommendations on how we can better serve them,” he added.

Pearnel Charles Jr, Minister of Labour and Social Security, presents a certificate to Tamara Dennis of the Lister Mair Gilby High School for the Deaf-May Pen Unit during the inaugural UWI-UNICEF Special Mathematical Olympiad Champions 2026 on Thursday at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Campus (Photo: Karl McLarty)

Education Specialist at United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Jamaica Dr Rebecca Tortello presents a certificate to Kemario Anderson of Lister Mair Gilby School for the Deaf, Port Antonio Unit, the first-place team that won the junior category of the inaugural UWI-UNICEF Special Mathematical Olympiad Champions 2026 on Thursday at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Campus (Photo: Karl McLarty).

(L-R) Education Specialist at United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Jamaica, Dr Rebecca Tortello, Pearnel Charles Jr, Minister of Labour and Social Security, Head of the Department of Mathematics, UWI Mona, Dr Mahesha Nayarana, Professor Tannecia Stephenson, Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Science and Technology, UWI Mona, Rasheen Roper, representative from the Office for Students with Special Needs, Office of Student Services and Development, UWI Mona, shares the frame with junior awardees during the award ceremony of the inaugural UWI-UNICEF Special Mathematical Olympiad Champions 2026 (Photo: Karl McLarty).