分类： society

MONTEGO BAY, St James — As the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) kicked off its third annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Summer Camp at its western Montego Bay campus Wednesday, university president Dr. Kevin Brown has drawn urgent national attention to a growing breakdown in Jamaica’s secondary-to-tertiary education pipeline, warning that dismal pass rates on regional secondary exams are leaving thousands of young people locked out of higher education and intensifying competition for a tiny pool of qualified applicants.

Every year, roughly 30,000 Jamaican high school students sit for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), the standardized exam that marks completion of secondary education across the region. Current data shows that only 20 percent — just 6,000 students total — earn the minimum five passing scores required for entry to most Jamaican tertiary institutions, including mandatory passes in both mathematics and English. An additional 5,000 students earn five subject passes but lack required qualifications in math or English, leaving them ineligible for admission at most post-secondary schools.

This severe shortage of qualified graduates has turned recruitment into a zero-sum game for Jamaica’s 16 tertiary education providers, Brown explained. From the regionally renowned University of the West Indies to the Caribbean Maritime University and local teacher training colleges, every public and private post-secondary institution is competing for the same small cohort of eligible students. For UTech alone, incoming classes require 3,000 qualified new students each year — half of the entire national pool of students who meet minimum entry requirements. “You have a pipeline issue,” Brown emphasized.

Beyond the competition between universities, Brown warned that the crisis poses a far more urgent social threat: 24,000 CSEC candidates leave secondary education each year without the qualifications needed to pursue tertiary study. While some of these young people enter vocational training through Jamaica’s HEART/NSTA Trust agency or join the workforce, a large share are left without clear pathways to stable employment or upward mobility. “That’s a scary thought,” Brown said of the growing cohort of out-of-school youth left behind by the current education system.

In response to this growing gap, UTech has positioned its STEM Summer Camp as a long-term national intervention, rather than just a campus recreational program. Now in its third iteration, the initiative was created and spearheaded by UTech Western Campus Coordinator Antoinette Smith, who launched the program just days after Hurricane Beryl hit Jamaica in 2024. Despite post-storm uncertainty, the first camp drew more than 80 participants, proving immediate demand for hands-on STEM learning opportunities for young Jamaicans. Building on that early success, the program expanded to UTech’s Papine Campus in Kingston in 2025, reaching an additional 100 students, while Montego Bay participation grew to more than 120. This year, the program will serve 200 underserved youth aged 11 to 16 across both campuses.

This year’s camp, themed “Resilient Futures: Empowering Jamaican Youth Through STEM Innovation for Climate Action, Community Impact and Sustainable Development”, runs from July 13 to 24 at the Montego Bay campus and July 20 to 31 in Papine. In addition to core STEM topics including environmental science, robotics, artificial intelligence, engineering design, and mathematics, the program integrates training in entrepreneurship, personal wellness, and career exploration to build critical employability skills for Jamaica’s fast-changing digital economy. Smith noted that recent disruptions from Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall in October 2025 and caused widespread damage across western Jamaica, reinforced the camp’s focus on building youth resilience and adaptive problem-solving skills.

The initiative relies entirely on private sector sponsorship, which Brown framed as a critical investment in Jamaica’s future workforce, rather than just philanthropic support for the university. Longtime corporate partners including Exelerate Energy and National Bakery have backed the camp since its launch, a commitment Brown said he does not take for granted. “They could say no,” he noted.

National Bakery Executive Director Laurie Ann Samuels, who spoke at Wednesday’s launch, explained her company’s longstanding support by pointing out that sustainable national growth depends on investing in young people. “Meaningful development of our country begins with investing in our people; particularly our youth,” Samuels said. “When we create opportunities for young Jamaicans to learn, explore, innovate, and dream bigger; we help to shape the future of our country. That is why initiatives like this STEM Summer Camp are so important.”

For organizers and education leaders, the camp is more than a summer enrichment activity — it is a targeted effort to expand the pipeline of STEM-qualified young Jamaicans, address the growing education gaps flagged by Brown, and build a more skilled, competitive workforce for the country’s long-term development.

A respected Jamaican-American attorney, humanitarian, and community leader is set to receive a rare and meaningful honor from the municipal government of Parkland, Florida, in early June. Kaysia Earley, whose decades-long career has spanned legal advocacy, nonprofit outreach, education mentorship, and community empowerment, will be formally recognized with a special Juneteenth Proclamation at Parkland’s City Hall on June 3. The official award will be presented by Parkland Mayor Richard Walker alongside the full Parkland City Commission, honoring Earley’s decades of work lifting up marginalized communities across both the United States and the Caribbean.

Born to a Jamaican father from Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Earley has never lost her deep connection to her Jamaican roots. She owns a residence in Trelawny, visits the island regularly to nurture family bonds, and has spent years spearheading grassroots humanitarian and mentorship programs for Jamaican communities. She has spoken at multiple Jamaican educational institutions, including William Knibb Memorial High School, and describes the country as her second home.

For 13 years, Earley has worked as a criminal defense attorney, and now operates her own legal practice, the Earley Law Firm. Her unique path to legal advocacy grew out of a life-altering personal experience during her senior year of college: when she was incarcerated and placed in solitary confinement after sharing discounted merchandise from her workplace with loved ones. That firsthand encounter with the U.S. criminal justice system gave her a rare, empathetic perspective that she now brings to every case. “Experiencing the criminal justice system first-hand gave me a unique perspective and a deep sense of empathy for those facing legal challenges…Today, I bring a rare perspective to my practice, having experienced the justice system from both sides, first as a defendant and now as a defender of justice,” Earley explained in a recent interview.

A graduate of Howard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Earley went on to earn her Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami. Beyond her private legal practice, she has built a decades-long legacy of pro bono service for low-income clients who cannot afford competent legal representation. In 2022, she ran for a judicial seat in Broward County, Florida, and has also built a public profile as a legal commentator, appearing on major national media outlets including CourtTV, Law & Crime, CBS, and NewsNation. She is also an award-winning author: her debut memoir *Houses Built by Faith* claimed the number one spot on Amazon’s bestseller list and won both the 2026 Christlit and Literary Titan Book Awards.

Earley is also the founder of Seeds of Manna, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to delivering emergency relief and long-term sustainable support to underserved communities impacted by natural disasters. When speaking to Observer Online recently, Earley called the upcoming proclamation a profound honor, noting that receiving the recognition during Juneteenth observances makes it even more meaningful.

Juneteenth marks the June 19, 1865 announcement of emancipation for enslaved African Americans in Texas, more than two years after the end of the U.S. Civil War, and is widely recognized as a celebration of Black freedom, resilience, and progress. “Being honoured during the city’s Juneteenth celebration made the recognition even more meaningful, considering Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that enslaved African Americans were free following the end of the Civil War. It’s a powerful reminder of resilience, freedom and progress. To receive this honour during such a significant observance is a blessing,” she said.

“This recognition reflects the countless hours of pro bono legal service I’ve provided to individuals who could not afford adequate legal representation, as well as the charitable work that I’ve undertaken through community outreach and non-profit efforts. I’m sincerely grateful to the mayor of Parkland and the city commission for this recognition. More importantly, it encourages me to continue serving others and being a blessing to those in need because a generous person always prospers,” Earley added. Currently, Earley resides in Broward County with her husband David and their four children.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — In the wake of a deadly garage explosion that rocked central Kingston earlier this week, the third injured survivor has been transported overseas for advanced medical treatment, with his steadfast spouse by his side, who has committed to standing by him through every step of his long recovery.

Fabian Brown, an account manager employed by Beryllium Limited, was loaded onto an air ambulance at Norman Manley International Airport on Friday and flown to Atlanta, Georgia, where he will access specialized care for critical burn injuries sustained in the blast. The explosion occurred at a small garage located on South Camp Road, directly adjacent to the security-focused headquarters of Beryllium Limited, leaving four men wounded overall.

As medical personnel carried Brown on a stretcher to the waiting aircraft, his wife Myesha never left his side, offering constant emotional and physical support. In a brief interview with reporters on the tarmac, she made clear her unwavering commitment to her husband’s recovery: “I will be by his side right through, I am not going anywhere.”

Myesha shared that Brown suffered extensive full-body burns in the incident, and that he remained in severe agony during her recent visit to the local Jamaican hospital where he was initially stabilized. “He was speaking, so that was a good sign, but he was in a lot of pain and the burns to the body is severe,” she explained.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Myesha expressed sincere gratitude to the Guardsman Group, Beryllium’s parent company, for its rapid coordination to secure urgent, life-saving care for all four blast victims. “Hats off to the Guardsman team,” she said. “I was impressed at how fast they responded… I am very appreciative of that.”

Two other injured men from the blast were transported to the United States for specialized treatment earlier this week, while a fourth victim has already succumbed to critical injuries sustained in the explosion. Local authorities have not yet released additional details on the exact cause of the blast.

For Shanecia Stewart, the cycle of abuse began when she was just three years old. Living with her parents in a Jamaican tenement yard, she became the target of a trusted neighbor known only as “Finger” — the first in a long line of predators that would eventually include her own father. It would take 14 long years for Stewart to finally break free from her abusers, but the trauma she carried pushed her down a self-destructive path, shaped by years of unaddressed pain.

Today, Stewart has rebuilt her life as a trained child protection specialist, counselor, pastor, and published author. Now, she is turning her personal journey of healing into collective action, preparing to host *Destitute. Redeemed. Restored: The Catalyst Summit*, a landmark event dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual violence across Jamaica. Scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 6, 2026, at the iconic Jamaica Pegasus hotel, the summit is framed as a strategic intervention to drive long-term societal change around one of the nation’s most underaddressed crises.

Stewart stresses that sexual abuse has reached epidemic proportions in Jamaica, with thousands of survivors trapped in cycles of suffering and silence. When she first found the courage to disclose her father’s abuse to her grandmother, her claims were dismissed as lies. This experience, she says, is far too common. Stigma, denial, and cultural silence have allowed the crisis to fester, discouraging survivors from coming forward to seek help.

Men and boys, she notes, face unique barriers to reporting. Shame, social stigma, and fear of judgment leave male survivors disproportionately likely to stay silent, resulting in massive underreporting of male sexual assault. Unaddressed trauma from this violence leaves many survivors stuck in cycles of pain that often ripple out into broader society, fueling higher rates of violence and intergenerational trauma. That gap in support is what the Catalyst Summit aims to fill: the event is open to survivors of all ages, genders, and backgrounds, whether they are ready to begin their own healing journey or want to support a loved one who has experienced abuse.

While childhood sexual assault is disproportionately common in low-income Jamaican communities, Stewart emphasizes that the issue cuts across every social class. Data bears this out: the 2024 Jamaica Violence against Children and Youth Survey confirms that one in four females and one in 10 males in the country experienced sexual violence during childhood, resulting in thousands of reported cases annually, with many more going uncounted.

The summit will bring together a cross-sector lineup of leading experts to discuss critical topics ranging from confronting sexual abuse and trauma-informed care to long-term trauma impacts, financial empowerment for survivors, and navigating the justice system. Confirmed speakers include Suzette Buchanan, Chief Executive Officer of Bellevue Hospital; United Nations Peace Ambassador Natassia Wright; Renate McDonald, CEO of Learn Grow Invest; attorney-at-law Kimberly O’Meally-Rock; and trauma specialist Chantaeu Munroe. Representatives from the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) and the Jamaica Constabulary Force will also contribute to the discussions, with Stewart herself leading much of the event’s programming.

Stewart outlines that the summit is built on three core pillars: national healing and restoration, systemic social advocacy, and grassroots community mobilization. For her, the event is far more than just a one-day conference or a networking opportunity. The recent publication of her memoir, which details her journey of survival, marked a permanent public commitment to addressing trauma, supporting survivors navigating identity loss, and equipping people to reclaim their personal agency after abuse.

“A resilient nation is built on whole, empowered individuals,” Stewart explains. By centering critical conversations and bringing long-overdue visibility to a crisis that holds back national development, she aims to push for systemic change and create space for restoration for the countless Jamaicans who have not yet been able to find the support to heal on their own. A portion of all proceeds from the summit will be donated to Eve for Life Jamaica, a non-profit organization that provides support to women and girls impacted by sexual and gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS.

Stewart says her own path to redemption was deeply shaped by her faith. In 2016, she lost both of her parents, and at that point she was a suicidal, bitter single mother who carried deep anger toward God. “I honestly hated Him, but He met me in my mess anyway,” she shared. It was only when she allowed herself to be honest about her hurt, disappointment, and distrust that her journey of healing began. Today, she says, divine empowerment is what drives her mission, and she is convinced that faith paired with practical action and accessible resources can deliver meaningful, lasting healing for survivors. To support this spiritual dimension of the work, the summit will feature worship leaders Arianna Whyte-Burton and Akilah Griffiths-Shannon, with Bishop Tyrone Whyte and Prophet David Shaw on hand to provide spiritual support for attendees.

MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Law enforcement authorities in Jamaica’s Manchester parish have launched a public appeal after a major anti-burglary operation yielded a large cache of recovered stolen property, and are also calling on a wanted person of interest to surrender to authorities.

The operation was carried out in the Mile Gully community, where investigators were targeting a man identified as Damion Biggs, who is wanted for questioning in connection with a string of local break-in incidents. While executing a search warrant at a property in the area, police uncovered an unexpected haul of dozens of items believed to have been stolen from local residences and businesses over a period of time.

The recovered property spans an unusually wide range of goods, from consumer electronics and home appliances to general household goods, curtains, and plumbing fixtures – including full toilet units and bathroom faucets. Even complete building doors were counted among the seized items, according to police statements.

Now, investigators are turning to the public to help return the recovered goods to their rightful owners. Any resident who has suffered a break-in and property theft is asked to travel to the Mandeville Police Station, where they can present documentation and other identifying details to confirm ownership and claim their belongings.

Alongside the call for theft victims, Manchester Police have reiterated their appeal to Damion Biggs, urging him to turn himself in voluntarily to the Mandeville Criminal Investigation Branch or any nearby police facility to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.