Increased budget support for special education

Government's support for special education has been boosted with the provision of more than $800 million in the 2009/2010 Estimates of Expenditure.

The total figure of $846.6 million will be apportioned as follows: schools for the mentally challenged $405 million; institu-tions for the hearing impaired $159 million; and schools for the visually impaired $60 million.

The funds will be used to assist with direction and administration, instructions, maintenance of buildings, and equipment and boarding. In addition, non-govern-mental organisations, which provide special education pro-grammes, received $62.5 million toward teachers' salaries.

A sum of $72 million was secured for the Mico College Child Assessment and Research in Education Centre, to be used for assessment and instruction. The institution was established to ensure the early detection of disabilities which affect the development of children, and prescribe corrective instructional programmes to address the disabilities diagnosed.

The centre also operates a remediation programme for children identified with mild disabilities.

The Hope Valley Experimental School, which offers education to non-disabled and disabled children, was granted $59.7 million for direction and administration, instruction and maintenance of buildings and equipment.

Schools for the multiple disabled will get $2.7 million to help with direction and administration, as well as $23 million for supervision and administration.

The objective of the spending, over the fiscal year, is to improve the provision of special education for students with particular needs,including: increase access to quality education and support services; support initiatives to raise the performance of students; and promotion of intersectoral collabo-ration to secure opportunities for prevention and early interventions.

Youth development programmes to establish more information centres

Youth development and empowerment is being given special attention in the 2009/2010 Budget, with a total of $186.3 million allocated to these programmes.

The Youth Development Programme will spend $104 million; the Youth Empowerment and Participation Programme $11 million; and the Youth Empower-ment and Information Centre Establishment project $71.3 million.

The establishment of youth information centres is a main focus this year, with centres slated for St Catherine, Clarendon, St Ann, St Elizabeth, St James and St Thomas.

Under the Youth Empowerment and Information Centre Establish-ment project, centres have already been established in Westmoreland and Manchester, and one in St James under the Youth Empower-ment and Participation Programme.

The Youth Development Programme, which started last December, will be responsible for establishing centres in Spanish Town and May Pen this year. This programme is funded, jointly, by the Government of Jamaica and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The main objective is to facilitate the transition of unattached youth to adulthood and the world of work, through training, on-the-job experience, information dissemination, labour intermediation services and improved sector management.

Ministry of Education targets literacy/numeracy in some schools

The Ministry of Education will be investing $5 million, this fiscal year, in improving literacy and numeracy in targeted schools.

Under its Expanding Education Horizons Project, the ministry will also seek to enhance the quality of interventions for out-of-school youth and increase stakeholder support. The project will receive budgetary support from the United States Agency for International Development.

Gains made under the project, so far, include the graduation of 62 of the 71 schools from the programme, based on student performance and instructional leadership practices.

With regard to the literacy component, teachers and resource specialists were trained; classroom libraries and reading corners established; literacy interventions were also carried out by six non-governmental organisations tar-geting out-of-school youth; the General Achievement in Numeracy test for grade 4 was developed; technical support was given to all schools by Numeracy Resource Project Specialists; and mathematics libraries were established in partici-pating schools.

The programme has also seen strides made in incorporating the use of technology in learning, addressing gender issues as they relate to learning, and addressing literacy and numeracy issues in six non-project secondary schools.

More than $1 billion slated for MoBay Convention Centre

The Montego Bay Convention Centre has received $1.2 billion in the 2009/10 Estimates of Expenditure to continue its construction.

The project is expected to provide direct and indirect employment for approximately 2,300 persons and, eventually, generate foreign exchange earnings from direct and indirect spending by delegates, exhibitors and associates using the facility, as well as improve the infrastructure available for convention-type activities.

Soil investigations and vege-tation assessment have been done, the Estimates stated, and the building approval obtained from the parish council. In addition, designs have been completed, conditions precedent to loan disbursement approved, contractors mobilised, site clearance and hoarding commenced and material for the works has already arrived.

Implementation of civil works, achieving approximately 30 per cent of completion, is expected this fiscal year.

Ground was broken on February 14, symbolically marking the official start of construction of the long-awaited centre. The facility, located in the Rose Hall area of Montego Bay, will be financed by the Government of China through a concessional loan agreement, with major financial input from the Government of Jamaica.

In his address at the official groundbreaking ceremony, Prime Minister Bruce Golding described the centre as a long-needed facility, and thanked the Government of China for making it possible.