分类： society

APUA outlines how utility amnesty programme will work for disconnected customers

Residential customers across Antigua who have gone months or even years without access to critical electricity, water, telecommunications or internet services now have a clear pathway to restore their access, after the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) published full operational guidelines for its long-awaited utility amnesty initiative this week.

The amnesty programme is open exclusively to customers whose services were cut off on or before September 30, 2025, and runs through a strict application window that closes on May 29, 2026. APUA officials have already begun encouraging eligible households to submit their requests early, warning that last-minute surges in applications are likely to cause processing delays that could leave some applicants waiting longer than necessary for reconnection.

To kick off the reconnection process, eligible customers must submit their applications in person at one of APUA’s two designated locations: the main APUA Business Centre situated on Independence Avenue, or the secondary office at Village Walk on Friars Hill Road. Along with a completed application, applicants are required to bring two critical documents: a valid, government-issued photo ID, and the unique APUA account number linked to the disconnected service. For tenants renting the property where service is to be restored, an additional document is mandatory: a formal permission letter from the property’s landlord that explicitly confirms approval for reconnection at the address.

Once APUA’s administrative team reviews and approves a submitted application, the reconnection workflow begins. A key safety requirement has been built into the process for customers with extended disconnection periods: any property that has remained without utility service for a year or longer will require a mandatory full safety inspection before service can be turned back on. During this inspection, APUA technicians will assess wiring, plumbing and other critical infrastructure to confirm that all systems meet current national safety and regulatory standards. Even customers who have been disconnected for many years remain eligible for the amnesty, however, as long as they complete the full application process and pass the required safety inspection.

APUA leadership emphasized that the programme was crafted to strike a balance between supporting vulnerable households and upholding public safety standards. By creating a formal, regulated pathway for reconnection, the authority aims to help struggling households regain access to basic utilities that are essential for daily life, while ensuring that all restored infrastructure meets required safety codes to protect both residents and utility workers.

14 4 月, 2026
Rotary Club of Dominica announces the winners of the 11th Annual National Secondary Schools Literacy Quiz Competition

ROSEAU, April 2026 — After a tightly contested battle of knowledge and critical thinking, the Rotary Club of Dominica has officially crowned the winners of its 11th annual National Secondary Schools Literacy Quiz Competition, held March 27 at the Prevost Cinemall Ballroom.

Claiming the first-place title was the team from St. Mary’s Academy, made up of students Arion Bozel and Thierry Lauture. The pair secured victory by a narrow margin over runners-up from Dominica Grammar School, represented by Qitara Beaupierre and Jeanmik LaPinard. Convent High School’s team of Jaël Lloyd and Mazhira Marie rounded out the top three positions.

Six schools advanced to the final round of the competition, selected from a pool of eight semi-finalists that competed across two qualifying rounds held on consecutive Fridays earlier in March. The other finalist teams included North East Comprehensive School’s Nai Auguiste and Nyssi Nelson, Castle Bruce Secondary School’s Micah Tyson and Mathew J. Alexander, and Isaiah Thomas Secondary School’s Ken-G Delsol and Azariah Johnson.

Prizes were awarded to all finalists to recognize their hard work and achievement. First and second-place teams took home laptop computers alongside smaller accessory prizes, while third-place winners received tablets. All competing students also received branded participation tokens and personalized certificates of achievement for reaching the final stage of the national contest.

The annual literacy quiz is just one of dozens of youth-focused education initiatives the Rotary Club of Dominica has organized over decades of community service. The organization has a long track record of supporting local needs across the island: it runs a popular annual Grotto lunch program during the Creole cultural season, and organizes annual holiday visits to bring gifts and cheer to residents of the Dominica Infirmary every Christmas morning. None of these service projects would be possible without the support of local residents who attend the club’s signature annual Carnival fundraiser, Souse ‘n Punch, organizers noted.

The club also extended public gratitude to its network of corporate sponsors that made the 2026 literacy quiz possible. Gold sponsorships were provided by the National Co-operative Credit Union and the Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI), while Central Co-operative Credit Union joined as a silver sponsor. Bronze sponsorship came from the National Bank of Dominica and Dominica Broadcasting Corporation (DBS Radio), which also broadcast the entire final competition live for audiences across the island.

As part of the global Rotary International network, the Rotary Club of Dominica upholds the organization’s core mission of taking local action to strengthen communities worldwide. Rotarians across the globe donate their time, energy and passion to build sustainable, meaningful projects that advance peace, expand access to healthcare, deliver clean drinking water to underserved areas, support maternal and child health, boost educational access, grow local economies, and protect the natural environment.

14 4 月, 2026
Alcalde Goes Missing in Indian Creek; “Riot” Erupts

In the remote community of Indian Creek Village, Toledo District, a developing crisis is unfolding after 41-year-old local Indigenous leader Marcos Canti, who serves as the village’s alcalde, was reported missing on Monday, April 13, 2026, triggering violent unrest that has left local property damaged and residents on edge over personal safety.

Canti was last documented working his farm earlier that day, and by 3 p.m., his abandoned personal items — including his machete, bicycle, and traditional cuxtal bag — were discovered at the site where he had been working. As news of his disappearance spread through the tight-knit village, community tensions that had been building for years boiled over into public unrest.

By early evening, a large crowd had gathered, and around 6:30 p.m., demonstrators marched to the residence of Domingo Choc, chair of the village council, who was not home at the time of the incident. Protesters, who accused Choc of being complicit in Canti’s disappearance, pelted his home with stones and damaged his adjacent shop and bar. Local residents report that community members called for police intervention immediately after the violence began, but law enforcement officers arrived after an extended delay.

The unrest quickly spread beyond Choc’s property, with demonstrators targeting the home of the village’s second alcalde — a leader aligned with Choc, as the two top officials have been publicly at odds for months. Threats were also issued against the home of local resident Anselmo Cholom and the Ya’axché Conservation Trust’s local field station.

As of April 14, Belizean law enforcement has issued an official missing person bulletin for Canti, and one person of interest is currently in custody for questioning. In a public statement posted to social media on April 14, global Indigenous rights advocacy group Indigenous Peoples Rights International claimed that Canti was kidnapped amid ongoing illegal land grabs targeting Indigenous communities in the region. The organization also alleged that community police received an audio clip sent from Canti’s phone in which the leader can be heard being assaulted and tortured, pleading for assistance in his native Maya language. These claims have not yet been independently verified by official law enforcement.

The unrest and Canti’s disappearance come against a backdrop of a deepening, long-running land conflict that has divided the community for months. On April 6, just one week before Canti went missing, he issued 200 communal land certificates for territory at Boden Creek that is claimed as private property by the Ya’axché Conservation Trust. Canti justified the distribution by referencing the Caribbean Court of Justice’s landmark 2015 Consent Order, which formally recognizes customary land tenure rights for Maya communities in Belize.

The move drew immediate condemnation from the Toledo Private and Lease Landowners Ltd. (TPLL), which labeled the issued certificates fraudulent and warned that the unilateral action would directly fuel community conflict. Shortly after the distribution began, Dr. Louis Zabaneh, head of Belize’s Ministry of Indigenous Affairs, ordered Canti to halt the process, issuing a formal clarification that alcaldes hold no legal authority to grant formal land rights until national enabling legislation is passed to codify the 2015 CCJ ruling.

For decades, Indian Creek has operated under two overlapping systems of governance: the traditional Alcalde system, which was formally legitimized for land matters by the 2015 CCJ ruling, and the state-established Village Council system. While the two structures coexisted uneasily for many years, disputes between the two factions have sharpened dramatically in recent years as demand for land and pressure for formal land rights recognition have grown. This remains an actively developing story, with more updates expected as the search for Canti and investigation into the unrest continue.

14 4 月, 2026
A 16-year-old from Florida is charged with sexually assaulting and killing stepsister on a cruise ship

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that a 16-year-old Florida teenager has been formally indicted on charges of murder and aggravated sexual abuse connected to the November death of his 18-year-old step-sister aboard a Carnival cruise ship.

Identified in court documents only as T.H. to protect his minor status prior to adult prosecution, the teen was first charged as a juvenile in early February. The proceedings remained sealed until U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom granted prosecutors’ request to move forward with trying the defendant as an adult, opening the case to public disclosure.

The victim, Anna Kepner, was an 18-year-old high school cheerleader at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida, a small community roughly 40 miles east of Orlando. Kepner was traveling with her family on the Carnival Horizon cruise liner when her body was discovered shortly before the vessel was set to return to its home port in Florida. She had been sharing a room with two other teenagers, including her younger stepbrother, and her body was found hidden under a bed in that shared accommodation.

An official autopsy determined Kepner’s cause of death on November 6 was mechanical asphyxia, a form of suffocation caused by physical force or an obstruction that cuts off a person’s ability to breathe.

In an official statement following the indictment, U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones expressed condolences to the victim’s loved ones, saying, “Our hearts go out to the victim’s family during this unimaginable loss.” He added that a federal grand jury had returned the indictment covering the serious charges, which were alleged to have occurred on a cruise ship operating in international waters.

At Kepner’s memorial service held shortly after her death, family members asked attendees to forgo traditional black mourning attire in favor of bright clothing, a tribute to what they described as her “bright and beautiful soul.”

The transfer of T.H.’s case to federal court for adult prosecution is an unusual step. Juvenile prosecutions are almost always handled at the state level in the U.S., and federal cases involving teenage defendants are extremely rare. Legal experts explain the federal jurisdiction stems from the fact that Kepner’s death occurred in international waters, which falls under federal maritime law rather than state judicial authority.

T.H. was first spotted at a Miami federal courthouse in February, where he arrived wearing a baseball cap and a hooded sweatshirt pulled up to obscure most of his face. Details of his initial court status were not publicly released at the time, as U.S. privacy laws restrict public disclosures about juvenile defendants.

Court records show that on February 6, a judge ordered T.H. to wear an electronic monitoring ankle tether while he stays in the home of his uncle ahead of trial. The monitoring order was later modified to grant him permission to work temporarily alongside his father at a landscaping business.

14 4 月, 2026
Labour Department stresses importance of safety and health committees in workplaces

Barbados’ Labour Department has launched a renewed call for employers nationwide to set up new or bolster existing workplace Safety and Health Committees, highlighting the central role these bodies play in cultivating safer working conditions for the country’s labor force.

Trevor Blackman, a senior Safety and Health Officer with the department, emphasized that establishing these collaborative committees is far more than a recommended industry best practice—it is a legal obligation enshrined in the island’s occupational safety and health legislation. Beyond meeting regulatory requirements, Blackman noted the committees fill a critical gap by giving frontline workers a formal, structured channel to voice their safety concerns and observations directly to organizational leadership.

When operating as intended, Blackman explained, these committees create a proactive internal system for flagging and mitigating workplace hazards before minor risks escalate into serious accidents, illnesses, or regulatory violations. Under this framework, workers can submit concerns directly to their committee’s representatives, who then conduct thorough on-site investigations, draft targeted corrective recommendations, and present these plans to company management. The department expects employers to prioritize implementing these evidence-based recommendations to resolve documented issues fully.

This tiered collaborative process, Blackman argued, leads to systematic improvements in working conditions, consistent risk reduction across all business operations, and ultimately a far safer workplace for every employee. He added that a large share of the safety violations identified during routine department inspections could have been caught and resolved internally before regulators ever arrived on-site if organizations had active, well-functioning safety committees in place.

Beyond hazard mitigation, Blackman stressed that these committees strengthen collaborative relationships between employers and their workforces, helping to build a widespread culture of shared accountability for workplace safety. Contrary to the common misconception that workplace safety falls solely on management, Blackman noted that frontline workers hold an equally critical stake in maintaining safe conditions—and the committees provide the formal platform needed to formalize this shared responsibility.

The Labour Department is specifically urging larger employers and organizations operating in high-risk industries to move quickly to confirm their committees meet legal requirements and are fully functional, as part of employers’ core duty of care to protect employee wellbeing. Blackman confirmed that the department remains committed to providing ongoing technical guidance, resources, and support to any Barbadian organization working to strengthen its occupational safety and health management systems.

14 4 月, 2026
Stray bullet kills innocent grandmom

On a quiet Monday night, what should have been an ordinary evening of shared pizza and family television time turned into an unspeakable tragedy in a Wilton Street residence, when stray gunfire from a public street chase cut short the life of Tamika Nottage-Cime, a 48-year-old devoted wife, mother of six, and school janitor. At the time of the incident, Nottage-Cime was holding her one-year-old grandson in her arms when bullets tore through the exterior walls of her home, striking her fatally. The toddler escaped physically unharmed, though covered in his grandmother’s blood, leaving a family shattered by sudden, senseless loss.

Her mother, Christine Nottage, shared the harrowing details of the final moments before gunfire erupted. Like so many other nights, the extended family had gathered in Nottage’s bedroom to chat and laugh, a quiet routine the household cherished. Nottage sat at the head of the bed, while her daughter settled at the foot. Out of nowhere, the sound of shooting erupted outside. Christine immediately screamed for her two great-grandchildren to take cover on the floor. When the gunfire stopped, she quickly noticed her daughter had not moved.

“I see her still on her face and the baby in her hand,” Christine recalled, describing how she began calling Tamika’s name and shaking her body in a desperate search for a response. “When I look at the baby in her hand, that’s when I realised she got hit. The baby full of blood and the blood coming from up under her.”

Royal Bahamas Police confirmed the sequence of events, noting that the shooting unfolded just after 10 p.m. in response to emergency calls. Officers arrived at the Wilton Street address to find Nottage-Cime unresponsive, with a single gunshot wound to her upper body. Initial investigations have painted a clear picture: an unidentified suspect chasing another individual through the neighborhood fired multiple shots during the pursuit. None of the bullets hit their intended target; instead, several penetrated the walls of the nearby residential home, striking the innocent grandmother as she sat with her family.

After opening fire, the suspect fled the area and remains at large as of the latest updates. Emergency medical responders pronounced Nottage-Cime dead at the scene. Beyond the unimaginable grief, the family has found a small measure of relief in the fact that the one-year-old she protected escaped without injury.

Christine Nottage, fighting back tears as she spoke to reporters, shared that she has never before experienced the loss of a child, and is clinging to prayer to find peace in the aftermath. “She don’t bother people, she saved,” Christine said of her daughter. “Just how she died quiet, that’s just how she was.” Like the rest of the family, she is demanding full justice for Tamika’s unnecessary death.

Nottage-Cime worked as a janitor at DW Davis School, and her husband Fenold Cime, who works on a remote Family Island, received the devastating news and flew into New Providence the day after the shooting. Still in deep shock, he can barely process the loss of his partner of 15 years. “Someone tell me she got shoot,” he said. “I said no, I just talked to my wife.” He described Tamika as the love of his life, a woman who brought warmth and stability to their entire family.

Local elected officials have also joined in mourning the loss of Nottage-Cime, who worked on Centerville Member of Parliament Jomo Campbell’s election campaign. In an official statement of condolence, Campbell emphasized that Nottage-Cime was far more than a campaign volunteer to the team. “Tamika was more than a team member; she was family,” he said. “Her warmth, her spirit, and her presence brought light to everyone around her. We strongly condemn violence on our streets and community, especially violence against women & children. This must never be accepted as normal.”

“To the Nottage family, please know that you are in our prayers and in our hearts during this incredibly difficult time. We grieve with you. We stand with you. Let this be a moment for reflection, for unity, and for love,” Campbell added.

14 4 月, 2026
WATCH: Swaby hails 2026 Carnival a major success despite shooting incident

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The 2026 Kingston Carnival season has been celebrated as a major economic win for the Jamaican capital, even as city leaders grapple with an outbreak of violence that left three people wounded over the weekend. Andrew Swaby, Mayor of Kingston, stressed that the annual celebration delivered widespread growth across multiple local industries, standing by his assessment of the event as a resounding success in spite of the shooting at the popular Big Wall carnival party.

In an official statement released this week, Swaby emphasized that Carnival has solidified its position as a key economic driver for Kingston, injecting new energy into the city’s urban core and spurring activity across hospitality, retail, transportation and countless small business sectors. “Once again, the event has proven its lasting value, and its growing economic importance to our city cannot be overstated,” Swaby said. “I want to extend my sincere recognition to the mas bands, event organizers, and thousands of patrons who came together to make this year’s celebration a success.”

Swaby detailed that the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) embedded itself in the planning process from the very beginning, working hand-in-hand with event stakeholders to fine-tune logistics, coordinate public services, and lay the groundwork for smooth execution. This year’s event, he argued, serves as a powerful model for what public-private collaboration can achieve when paired with intentional strategic planning and a shared commitment to delivering a high-quality experience for all attendees.

Among the most notable improvements highlighted by the mayor was a marked upgrade in waste management and post-event cleanup operations. Swaby reported that city crews cleared parade routes and event spaces far faster than in previous years following the annual road march, cutting down on environmental disruption and returning downtown streets to normal daily use in record time. He called this progress a major milestone, crediting the hard work and dedication of municipal cleaning teams and event staff. To address longstanding concerns about paint stains left on public infrastructure from Carnival activities, organizers and municipal officials tested all paint used in parades and events to ensure formulations could be easily and fully removed after the celebration, a proactive step designed to minimize avoidable disruption to the city.

Even as leaders celebrated the event’s many wins, they did not shy away from addressing the violent incident that marred the final weekend of the season. Swaby issued a firm condemnation of the shooting at the Big Wall carnival party, which left three people injured: one a bystander, and including popular local podcaster Jaii Frais. Local reports confirm the incident involved music producer Jahvy Ambassador, associates of dancehall artist 450, and Frais, and Jahvy Ambassador has since been taken into police custody. Organizers of the Big Wall event have already issued a public apology for the violence.

“We unequivocally condemn all acts of violence that took place at this event,” Swaby said. “Our thoughts are with everyone who was injured, and we extend our deepest wishes for a fast and full recovery to all three affected individuals.”

14 4 月, 2026
Teenager kills nine, wounds 13 in Turkey school shooting

ISTANBUL — Just 24 hours after a separate school shooting left 16 wounded in southeastern Turkey, a second mass shooting at a middle school in the country’s southern Kahramanmaras province has sent the nation into mourning, leaving nine dead and 13 injured in an attack that upended Turkey’s long history of rare school violence. The shooter, identified by local officials as a 14-year-old eighth-grade student, carried five licensed firearms and seven ammunition magazines belonging to his father, a former police officer, into the school campus on Wednesday morning. What followed was chaos: the teen opened fire indiscriminately across two classrooms, forcing terrified students to leap from first-floor windows to escape the gunfire. Dramatic, AFP-verified footage captured by a nearby resident shows students scrambling across the school courtyard, with roughly 15 gunshots audible across a 90-second clip of the attack.

Turkey’s Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci confirmed that nine people lost their lives in the shooting, and 13 wounded people were rushed to local hospitals, with six patients remaining in intensive care and three in critical condition as of Wednesday evening. The shooter himself died during the incident, and local governor Mukerrem Unluer told reporters it remains unclear whether the death was a suicide or an accidental killing amid the chaos of the attack. Law enforcement has since detained the shooter’s father, Ugur Mersinli, for questioning, per reporting from Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency. Video released by Turkey’s private IHA news outlet showed emergency workers evacuating covered bodies from the campus, while dozens of distraught parents gathered outside the school gates waiting for updates on their children. Law enforcement has locked down the campus perimeter, and top Turkish officials including the interior and education ministers traveled to Kahramanmaras to oversee the response, with prosecutors opening an immediate investigation into the incident.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered an official statement on social media platform X, calling the attack an unmitigated tragedy. “In this tragic attack, we unfortunately lost our bright young children and a devoted educator,” he wrote, adding that authorities would fully investigate every detail of the shooting and urging the public not to politicize the national grief. The Wednesday shooting follows a similar attack just one day prior, in Sanliurfa province’s Siverek district, where a former student opened fire with a shotgun at his old high school, wounding 16 people — 10 of them students — before killing himself during a police confrontation. Following the Tuesday attack, law enforcement detained one suspect and suspended four school officials from their posts, and ordered the affected school closed for four days.

The back-to-back attacks have sparked urgent debate over school safety across Turkey. Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel argued that the violence can no longer be written off as a series of isolated events. “At this point, it is clearly evident that violence in schools can no longer be explained by isolated incidents,” Ozel wrote on X. “This issue has turned into a growing and deepening security vulnerability.” He called for immediate implementation of sweeping new security measures, including full access control at all school entry and exit points, increased on-campus security staff, upgraded campus camera systems, more frequent police patrols around school grounds, and updated emergency response plans. “The security of schools is entrusted to our state. No negligence or deficiency in this regard can be excused anymore,” Ozel added.

Until this week, school shootings have been extremely rare in Turkey, which enforces some of the strictest gun control regulations in the region. All firearms in the country require official licensing, mandatory registration, mental health screenings and criminal background checks for owners, with heavy criminal penalties for unlicensed gun possession. The most recent high-profile school shooting prior to this week occurred in May 2024 in Istanbul, where a expelled former student shot and killed a private high school principal months after he was dismissed from the school.

14 4 月, 2026
Stinking sore at UHWI

On Tuesday, Jamaica’s Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) deepened its probe into longstanding mismanagement allegations at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), uncovering fresh troubling evidence of systemic improper governance that has raised serious alarms among lawmakers. The review was launched following the release of a damning special audit report from the auditor general into the public hospital’s daily operations and financial management. What PAC members heard during Tuesday’s hearing left many top committee officials stunned: senior UHWI executives confirmed that the major public health institution carries a staggering $40 billion in unpaid tax obligations to the state, and has not developed any formal structured repayment plan to resolve the massive liability. Compounding this revelation, the hospital continues to operate under a temporary tax compliance certificate, a temporary status that is meant only for entities working to resolve outstanding compliance issues, rather than holding billions in unpaid taxes. The hearing also exposed another contradiction in the hospital leadership’s previous accounts: UHWI executives had previously claimed that severe flooding at the facility destroyed key physical files linked to multiple millions of dollars in awarded contracts, but they walked back that explanation during questioning before the PAC. Lawmakers also pressed executives on reports that an outside private entity was allowed to use UHWI’s official tax-exempt import status to bring goods into the country, resulting in more than $10 million in unpaid customs duties that the public is now forced to absorb. UHWI representatives gave inconsistent, halting responses when asked to explain how the private company gained access to the hospital’s tax-exempt privileges. As one of the Caribbean’s leading public teaching and referral hospitals, the ongoing governance and financial irregularities at UHWI have sparked growing public concern about oversight of state-funded health institutions, and the PAC is expected to continue its review of the audit findings in upcoming hearings, with further questioning of hospital leadership planned.

14 4 月, 2026
Little support for petition to pay school ‘shadows’ more

A public campaign is pushing Jamaica’s national government to correct longstanding unfair pay practices for school shadows — trained special education support workers — in the country’s public education system, where many of these critical staff members currently earn less than the official national minimum wage.

Launched on the official Jamaica House online petition platform on April 1, 2025, the appeal formally requests government intervention to uphold equitable compensation for these workers, who deliver specialized one-on-one support to students with disabilities learning in mainstream public school classrooms.

Also widely referred to as shadow teachers or classroom aides, school shadows play an indispensable role in advancing inclusive education across Jamaica. Their core responsibilities go far beyond basic classroom assistance: they adapt learning activities to match each student’s unique needs, help young people navigate emotional and behavioral challenges, facilitate positive social connections with peers, and intentionally foster long-term independence rather than ongoing reliance on support.

In their petition, organizers emphasize that the vital work school shadows do to enable vulnerable disabled students to access learning, stay safe, and contribute fully to school community life has been largely unrecognized, particularly when it comes to the personal investments these workers make in their own professional development. Many shadows pay for additional training and advanced qualifications out of their own pockets, yet even after meeting these updated professional requirements, the majority of public sector school shadows still earn wages that fall below Jamaica’s national minimum wage.

Petition organizers call this systemic underpayment unjust, environmentally and professionally unsustainable, and misaligned with both Jamaica’s existing national labor regulations and the government’s stated commitment to educational equity. Currently, Jamaica’s national minimum wage sits at $16,000 per 40-hour workweek, and the government has already approved a scheduled increase to $17,000 per week that will take effect on July 1, 2026. Even with this planned adjustment, the petition notes that the current pay structure for school shadows remains unlawful and unfair, requiring urgent policy correction.

The issue of school shadow compensation is not a new one for Jamaica’s education leadership. In 2024, then Education Minister Fayval Williams acknowledged that the public education system employed roughly 500 school shadows, and identified improved pay for these workers as an ongoing policy priority. All public sector school shadows are deployed through the Ministry of Education’s Special Education Unit, which provides specialized support for learners aged 3 to 21 with a wide range of disabilities, including hearing and visual impairments, learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and autism, alongside tailored support for gifted and talented students.

Data from past discussions within Jamaica’s education sector highlights a sharp discrepancy between public and private sector pay for these roles. In a 2022 interview with the Jamaica Observer, then President of the Jamaica Independent Schools’ Association (JISA) Dr. Andre Dyer reported that private school parents who cover shadow teacher pay out of pocket often spend between $15,000 and $90,000 per month, depending on the worker’s qualifications, with lower costs only available when schools offer partial subsidies.

Demand for qualified school shadows has risen steadily across both public and private Jamaican schools since the COVID-19 pandemic, when two years of suspended in-person learning exacerbated developmental and learning gaps that require targeted one-on-one support for many disabled students.

Under Jamaica’s official petition framework, any registered citizen can launch or sign a public appeal on the Jamaica House portal. For a petition to qualify for formal review by the Office of the Prime Minister, it must gather 15,000 valid signatures within a 40-day window. If the appeal meets the platform’s participation standards, the Prime Minister’s office is required to issue a formal public response. The current petition on school shadow compensation is set to close on July 1, 2025, and as of reporting, it has not yet gathered any signatures. All petitions undergo a pre-publication review to confirm compliance with platform rules, and only eligible appeals are posted for public signing.

14 4 月, 2026