Despite not being able to do face-to-face teaching since March, the staff at the infant department at the Bull Savannah Primary and Infant School in Bull Savannah, St Elizabeth, found a creative way to stage their annual Christmas celebration last Wednesday, much to the delight of the students.

The planning and execution of the virtual event were spearheaded by Shelly Ann Rowe, head of the infant department, alongside fellow staff members Dorret Francis, Tashana Dixon, Juliet Belinfanti, Deniese Walker Shanae Dyer, Trudy Ann Lewis, Doreen Brooks, and Noreen Powell-Alveranga. They formulated a plan to do a virtual celebration, which they successfully pulled off.

“Despite the pandemic and the challenges it posed, the department received many Christmas miracles with an overflow of blessing as we secured sponsorships both locally and internationally for all 92 students,” said Rowe. “This year’s sponsors included the surrounding business community, community churches, college students living in the USA, teachers from the primary department, past school friends, present and past students. All these sponsors partnered with us to achieve one main goal – bringing joy to all the students.” Read More

The Oracabessa Foundation, assisted by Chris Blackwell, has come to the assistance of six basic schools in Oracabessa, St Mary, in their efforts to meet the requirements by the Government to reopen in 2021.

The six basic schools are: Oracabessa Seventh-day Adventist, Covenant, Cross Roads, Race Course, Sunshine, and Grace Baptist Childcare and Learning Centre.

The foundation’s executive director, Travis Graham, outlined that the organisation funded the supply of equipment and items to help prepare the schools in their anti-COVID efforts, in addition to facilitating training for the principals.

“Through the assistance of the Golden Eye resort founder, Chris Blackwell and CO-CEO Marika Kessler, the necessary funds needed to purchase all the required items were raised and the decision was made to purchase the required PPE items, gears and hardware supplies needed to build out isolation rooms to the six basic schools,” Graham told The Gleaner.

Representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Early Childhood Commission were on hand for the handing over and the training of principals that followed. Read More

For four years, Judene Henry dedicated herself towards achieving a Bachelor of Science degree in midwifery from the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.). However, before she could walk across the stage and collect her academic award, death intervened.

The 26-year-old died in May, but not before she had earned a second-class honours degree. "Every time me think about Judene, me cry," said Novelette Phillips, Henry's mother who collected the degree on her behalf during at ceremony at UTech, Ja. on Tuesday.

The degree was awarded posthumously to Henry, who the university described as a high achiever. Phillips was glad to be collecting on her daughter's behalf but wished things were different. Read More

 

The Ministry of Education in The Bahamas is being urged to have students repeat the 2020 school year, based on the results of this year’s national examination results.

In a statement, the president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT), Belinda Wilson, made the recommendation, pointing to the weak exam results for 2020, when compared to 2019. 

In a scathing criticism of the country's educational system, Wilson said the process has continually failed the children of The Bahamas. 

“I strongly recommend that the Ministry of Education stop, review, cancel, pause and consider students having the opportunity to repeat the 2020 school year and that the social promotion practises cease forthwith. It is so sad, but true – the educational system has failed the children of this nation over and over and over," she argued.

The head of the BUT said the results from the local examinations were not surprising.

“From the onset I advocated for the sitting of the exams to be cancelled and that the students be awarded predicted grades. If this method was used, as it was used in the United Kingdom and in 160 countries and 10,000 institutions, then 100 per cent of our students would have received grades," she said.

“Then today, the Ministry of Education would not be lamenting the fact that the number of candidates that sat the exams was substantially lower than 2019.” Read More