THE Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs ‘Road to Republic Secondary School Tour’ began Thursday with a stop at the Cedar Grove Academy in Portmore, St Catherine.

Speaking at a JIS think tank Thursday, portfolio minister Marlene Malahoo Forte said youth engagement is important to the process of transitioning from a Constitutional Monarchy to a Republic. “We have the younger people who will be eligible to vote in the referendum and we’ve been saying enumerate to participate, so we are going into the schools directly through the legal education unit of the ministry alongside our media partners to have the conversation,” she said.

The islandwide tour will target students who are in fifth and sixth forms, who have reached the age of majority or who are likely to attain the age of majority within this current parliamentary term. Scheduled to run from November 2023 to May 2024, the tour’s first leg featured senior high school students from The Cedar Grove Academy, Bridgeport High, Waterford High, St Jago High, José Martí Technical High, and other schools in Portmore and Spanish Town.

“We really are on the road to republic, and so the ministry is rolling out its public education campaign with our schools to talk about constitutional reform,” the minister said.

Students participating in the tour will be engaged through presentations from attorneys-at-law at the ministry, youth representative on the Constitutional Reform Committee, and technocrats from the Electoral Office of Jamaica. Students will also be able to participate in group discussions facilitated by attorneys and students from the Norman Manley Law School.

The tour encompasses 18 stops, and approximately 300 senior secondary schools.