分类： society

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Across Jamaica’s education system, a quiet revolution is unfolding in support of autistic students, driven by a transformative collaborative bond between families and contracted Special Education Needs Assistants (SENAs) — roles previously known as shadows or caregivers. Working under the jurisdiction of the country’s Ministry of Education, Youth, Skills and Information (MoESYI), these dedicated support staff embed in school settings to advance autistic children’s participation, social integration, long-term independence, and overall safety and well-being.

New data for the 2025-2026 academic year underscores the urgent demand for this targeted support: of 217 students placed in private non-governmental special education institutions this year, 124 — 57% of the total cohort — have received an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Even more striking, 70% of the 696 students approved for dedicated shadow support this academic year are autistic. To uphold its commitment to leaving no child behind, MoESYI’s Special Education Unit has implemented a proactive provisional placement policy: students waiting for formal psychological education assessments are admitted to schools immediately, with doctor’s notes accepted as temporary documentation to avoid gaps in learning.

This model of collaborative care, rooted in intentional partnership between SENAs and families, has produced tangible, life-changing progress for autistic students, with countless stories of patience, persistence, and compassionate care at its core.

One such success story centers on 8-year-old Kylian Barnett, a nonverbal autistic student at Solid Base Preparatory and Kindergarten School in Spanish Town, where SENA Dana Beckford has supported his personal care and skill development since July 2024. From the earliest days of Kylian’s diagnosis, his father Keino Barnett refused to succumb to despair. With prior experience working as a music teacher supporting a nonverbal autistic drumming student at Portmore’s Aintree Basic School, Barnett understood that autism did not define his son’s potential. “He was three when we noticed developmental differences, but I stayed calm — autism wasn’t new to me. I always knew he could thrive,” he explained. The entire Barnett family, including Kylian’s sister and grandparents, has embraced active participation in his care, creating a consistent support system that complements Beckford’s work in the classroom.

That consistent cross-setting support has delivered remarkable progress. Under Beckford’s patient, gentle guidance, Kylian — once nonverbal — now speaks several words and completes many daily tasks independently. Keino Barnett credits Beckford’s unwavering commitment for the visible shifts in his son’s development: “There are clear improvements in his behavior, and she has contributed so much to his literacy and numeracy skills. He’s grown so much, and she’s even helped him develop interest in activities he once avoided entirely. That’s the difference her dedication makes.”

Beckford’s approach is shared by SENAs across the island, who bring personalized, child-centered strategies to their work. For Angela Davis-Johnson, that means centering patience, positivity, and individualization in every interaction. “Every autistic child is unique, with their own personality, interests, and way of learning. Some days bring mood swings or meltdowns, so I adapt to each child’s specific needs,” she explained. Davis-Johnson prioritizes positive reinforcement, framing instructions to minimize negative language and celebrating every small win to encourage desired behaviors. She also notes that ongoing professional development from MoESYI and the Special Education Unit has equipped her with the tools to succeed.

Hannah-Lisa Clue, another SENA, adds that effective support requires more than just patience: it demands compassion, strong communication, flexibility, and a commitment to continuous learning. “I use simple, accessible communication tools — pictures, gestures, consistent routines — to help children feel comfortable and connected. Most importantly, I work closely with parents to align strategies, so kids get consistent support whether they’re at school or at home,” she said.

Beyond the on-the-ground support from SENAs, MoESYI has built out a broader framework of inclusive programming. The ministry runs Early Stimulation Programmes (ESP) for children six and under living with a range of developmental disabilities, and has recently launched a new tailored curriculum for students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities designed to meet their unique learning needs.

In Luana, St. Elizabeth, Jamaican law enforcement has launched an ongoing enforcement push targeting unlicensed and potentially unsafe imported sugar, resulting in the arrest and charging of two Chinese business owners this Friday. The operation comes as national regulatory bodies ramp up public health protections following a high-profile metal contamination scare involving a local sugar producer.

Sergeant Desroy Holness, who leads the Area Three branch of the Agricultural Protection Branch (APB), confirmed that the two operators face charges under the Sugar Control Act after officers discovered unpermitted Guyanese Demerara-labeled brown sugar for sale at their combined wholesale and supermarket location. During the targeted inspection, investigators seized 10 packages of the unauthorized product, with representatives from the Sugar Industry Authority (SIA) confirming that no government approval had been granted for either the importation or retail sale of this specific sugar line.

Speaking to reporters following the arrest, Holness issued a clear public warning to other business operators suspected of involvement in the illegal trade, alongside his partners from the SIA. “We know there are multiple other businesses across the region selling this brand of brown sugar, and anyone caught violating the law will face prosecution,” he stated, emphasizing that the joint APB-SIA crackdown will continue indefinitely until the unlicensed trade is curbed.

Friday’s enforcement action is directly tied to a broader national sugar safety emergency that unfolded last week, after a consumer shared a viral TikTok video showing apparent metal fragments in a package of brown sugar produced by Pan-Caribbean Sugar Company Limited. Following independent confirmation of the contamination, the National Compliance and Regulatory Authority (NCRA) moved quickly to enact a full nationwide recall of all affected products from the manufacturer, and announced it would significantly ramp up monitoring of all sugar sold in Jamaica to protect public health.

In an official statement, the NCRA confirmed that it has expanded surveillance and enforcement operations across every stage of the domestic sugar supply chain. These enhanced measures include targeted inspections of retail and wholesale outlets, increased random sample collection from distributors and store shelves, and close ongoing collaboration with accredited independent testing laboratories to conduct full chemical and microbiological safety testing.

To date, regulators have collected dozens of sugar samples from locations across the island for laboratory analysis. While waiting for final testing results to be released, the NCRA has already implemented precautionary public safety measures, including the detainment of any sugar products that fail to meet the country’s strict safety, labeling, and supply chain traceability requirements. The agency added that it remains committed to full ongoing transparency regarding the safety of all locally produced and imported sugar circulating in the Jamaican domestic market.

As Jamaica grapples with a growing crisis of weapons possession and widespread student indiscipline across the nation’s public schools, the top leader of the country’s teachers’ union has issued a scathing rebuke of government inaction, accusing policymakers of actively undermining school administrators’ efforts to enforce order and hold violating students accountable.

In an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer published Sunday, Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver outlined the deep scope of the problem, revealing that some campuses are now struggling to control gang activity infiltrating their halls.

“The Ministry of Education already collects detailed data on every major infraction reported across our schools, so they are fully aware of the range and volume of weapons seized from students every year,” Malabver told the outlet. “Students are bringing an alarming variety of weapons onto campus. I don’t know what purpose this data is serving if no substantive action follows, but it is past time for meaningful intervention.”

Malabver emphasized that the number of weapons recovered is significant, and called for coordinated action from school administrators, governing boards, and the education ministry to expel gang presence from campuses entirely. “Schools must be made a completely hostile environment for gangs,” he said.

The JTA president confirmed that common edged weapons including knives, ice picks, and scissors are regularly carried by students to school, noting that while firearm seizures are not an everyday occurrence, they have happened repeatedly. “We have had students taken into law enforcement custody for carrying loaded firearms on campus,” he said. “This is not a new problem, but it points to a much wider crisis of systemic student indiscipline that has played out in deadly ways.”

The most recent high-profile fatal incident took place on April 20, when 13-year-old Seaforth High School student Kland Doyle was stabbed to death by a fellow student in St Thomas. The fatal attack grew out of an on-campus dispute that spilled off school grounds, unfolding between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. near the Morant Bay Transport Centre, close to a Teen Hub facility and an internet café frequently used by students. St Thomas Police Division Commanding Officer Rohan Ritchie confirmed three students have been taken into custody in connection with Doyle’s killing.

Just one week before that fatal stabbing, law enforcement officers arrested four Papine High School students in Gordon Town, St Andrew, after breaking up a public brawl. The students were found in possession of multiple offensive weapons including knives, ice picks, and machetes. While no assault charges were filed because no formal victim reports were submitted, all four teens were formally charged with illegal weapons possession.

The Jamaica Observer has requested official aggregated statistics from police on the total number and types of weapons seized from students across the island since last week. While the department promised to release the data this week, it has not yet been made public. Police have however repeatedly shared photos of seized student weapons on their public social media channels in recent months, highlighting the scope of the issue.

In one of the most alarming revelations from the interview, Malabver stated that reports collected by the JTA point to a sharp rise in unprovoked violent attacks against teaching staff by students. “We have seen a significant jump in these unprovoked attacks, alongside persistent bullying across campuses,” he explained. “In one recent case in St Catherine, a student attacked a teacher from behind, causing severe injuries that forced the educator to miss months of classes while recovering. In far too many of these cases, teachers end up paying for their own medical costs out of pocket.”

Malabver argued that the root of the current indiscipline crisis stems from multiple systemic failures, starting with lack of parental accountability, which the government has failed to address. “We are only treating the symptoms of the problem right now, not getting to the root cause. For me, the core issue is poor parenting,” he said. “There is currently no legislation on the books that holds parents legally responsible for the harmful behavior their children engage in while at school. Lawmakers need to take this gap seriously and pass new legislation to create that accountability.”

Beyond parental accountability, Malabver pointed to gaps in school governance that let offending students avoid consequences, often when school boards fail to take timely disciplinary action. He went a step further, arguing that the Ministry of Education has inadvertently become complicit in undermining school-wide discipline policies.

“Whenever school leaders enforce existing dress and grooming codes, ministry officials and even elected politicians often side with violating students instead of backing administrators,” he said. “We keep hearing that new policies are in development, stuck in one consultation phase or another, but where is the urgent, concrete policy to address the indiscipline crisis tearing at our schools? We need a firm, uncompromising approach to discipline, and right now the Ministry is failing to deliver that. They may deny this, but the facts speak for themselves.”

The issue of weapons in Jamaican schools is not new: just a few years ago, St Catherine North Police, backed by Jamaica Defence Force personnel, carried out a coordinated search of a local high school and seized a large cache of weapons and contraband from students, images of which were widely shared on official police social media at the time.

In western Jamaica, two high-profile fatal shootings on church grounds have ignited urgent public and religious dialogue about whether traditional sacred spaces can still function as the sanctuaries communities have relied on for generations. The most recent tragedy unfolded last Wednesday, when 38-year-old church member Cora Thompson was killed outside Montego Bay’s New Testament Church of God mid-way through a scheduled fasting service. This killing echoes a 2021 attack that claimed the life of 51-year-old Andrea Lowe-Garwood, who was shot and killed during an active worship service at Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Falmouth, Trelawny.

For centuries, churches across Jamaica and much of the world have held a unique social status: more than just gathering places for worship, they were understood as neutral zones of peace, where people facing conflict, persecution or hardship could find safe refuge. Today, regional religious leaders agree that while the core mission of the church to serve its community remains unchanged, the unwritten social respect that once shielded these spaces from violence has sharply deteriorated.

Pastor Michael McAnuff-Jones, co-chairman of the Watchman Christian Leadership Alliance, frames this shift as a “thinning out of a kind of a moral shield” that once protected church grounds. “It may be that in a real sense, this historical kind of societal contract that is in people’s minds about the need for the church to be treated as holy ground, as sacred ground, has broken down,” he explained. “When people begin to see a church building as just another building with walls and a roof, then we have a shift in the way people respond.”

Bishop Conrad Pitkin, senior pastor of Faith Temple Assembly of God in Montego Bay and custos of St James, traces this cultural shift to a broader collapse of foundational societal values. “They have lost respect for the church as a sanctuary. They have lost respect for the sanctity of life. There’s a disregard in our society for people,” Pitkin said. “It is not just a simple loss of respect alone, but the whole question of value has been eroded.”

Bishop Roy Notice, chairman of the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches and administrative bishop of the New Testament Church of God in Jamaica, goes further, describing attacks on church property as an act of desecration that signals a deeper national crisis. “The society is kind of losing its soul” due to rampant violent crime and a widespread “lack of respect and regard for human life,” he argued.

When asked whether the church, through spiritual practice and discernment, could have anticipated and prevented these tragedies through prayer, leaders offered a nuanced, grounded perspective that balances faith with the realities of living in an imperfect world. Notice noted that while divine revelation sometimes forewarns of coming harm, the church operates in a world where “evil is rampant.” “We don’t live in heaven,” he pointed out. “There are times when the Lord reveals it to us before it happens, and there are other times the Lord gives grace to take us through it. And there are other times when the impact is so great, the evil creates victims, and the Lord also guides us through that. So whatever happens, whether we sensed it and discerned it or whether we didn’t, God gives grace for all the occasions.”

McAnuff-Jones echoed this sentiment, adding there is no guarantee of prophetic warning for every potential tragedy. “The reality of life is that we worship a God who intervenes in matters for His own purpose. God is sovereign, and there are times when bad things happen to good people. There are things that happen to Christians that happen to other people. There are things that happen to people who are not in the church; the same things happen to Christians,” he said, citing the historical persecution of the apostles and the crucifixion of Jesus as examples of violence against faithful people.

Even amid rising violence and eroding social norms, religious leaders remain committed to upholding the church’s historic role as a place of refuge. Notice reaffirmed that despite the negative influence of broader societal instability, “the church continues to be a place of refuge, sanctuary, and a place of joy.”

That said, reclaiming the historic safety and sacred status of church grounds will require collective action from across Jamaican society, leaders agree. Pitkin emphasized that broad systemic change is needed to reverse the current trend: “There has to be some level of reinforcement of values and attitudes in our society, and behavioural adjustment. A lot of things need to be done and we are going to have to do it.”

McAnuff-Jones joined this call, pushing for a “new cultural consensus” that re-establishes church spaces as consecrated ground that demands respect. “People should not for one minute believe that this is a place where anything can happen and anything goes,” he said. “As to what God does when people do these things, that’s for God to decide. But I think it is fair to say that, you know, God is not to be toyed with and people should respect that.”

On a Monday morning in St Elizabeth, Jamaica, frustrated taxi drivers serving the Santa Cruz-Mountainside route took collective action to highlight long-running infrastructure woes, felling trees to obstruct the busy Lacovia main road. The demonstration stemmed from growing outrage over persistently poor road conditions that have made daily travel unsafe for both drivers and passengers who rely on the corridor.

Local councillor Christopher Williams, representing the Santa Cruz division for the Jamaica Labour Party, confirmed that law enforcement officers responded quickly to remove the blockage and have maintained a visible patrol presence in the area to prevent further disruption. Williams acknowledged that while unauthorized road blockades are disruptive, he shares the frustration of motorists and commuters who have dealt with crumbling infrastructure for far too long.

The protest targets multiple critical hazard points along the Lacovia to Burnt Savannah corridor. Two major sections of road shoulder have collapsed away—one near the Lacovia police station, and another within the Burnt Savannah community. Williams explained that ongoing, heavy daily rainfall has rapidly worsened these breakaways, turning a gradual infrastructure decline into an immediate public safety threat that grows more dangerous with each passing day.

Just one day before the protest, Williams held a meeting with Jamaica’s Minister of Works Robert Morgan to escalate community concerns about the roadway. Following that discussion, Williams received a formal commitment from the minister that the long-neglected repairs will move forward quickly through emergency government procurement protocols. These expedited processes are designed to cut through standard bureaucratic red tape to allow construction crews to begin addressing the most dangerous sections of the road as soon as possible.

Williams emphasized that local and national authorities are fully aware of the severity of the situation, and that all available resources are being mobilized to resolve the unsafe conditions in the shortest timeframe possible. For residents and regular travelers along the route, the promise of immediate action brings an end to months of unaddressed safety risks that have disrupted daily commutes and put lives at risk.

Thousands of educators across Jamaica are set to wear black clothing today and Tuesday as a visible act of protest against what the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) describes as systemic disregard for the teaching profession. The mass demonstration was announced by the JTA in an official press statement released over the weekend, at a time when months of drawn-out contract negotiations have left teachers increasingly disillusioned with the government’s lack of progress on core demands.

In its statement, the JTA acknowledged that the extended negotiation process has placed an unmanageable burden on its rank-and-file members. Many teachers have reported deep-seated frustration, chronic professional exhaustion, and rapidly dwindling patience after months of unfulfilled promises and stalled talks. The association noted that the ongoing delay has not only tested educators’ willingness to compromise, but also eroded their sense of professional worth and dignity as public servants.

JTA President Mark Malabver reaffirmed the organization’s unwavering solidarity with teachers across the island, emphasizing that the body understands the daily sacrifices educators make even amid ongoing uncertainty about their compensation and working conditions. Malabver stressed that the dispute extends far beyond base pay: the fight, he said, is fundamentally a battle for social justice, aimed at correcting long-standing inequities and ensuring that teachers receive the respect and compensation that matches their irreplaceable role in driving Jamaica’s national development.

According to the JTA, Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance has recently extended a formal invitation for a new round of negotiation talks scheduled for Tuesday. The upcoming meeting is framed as a critical make-or-break opportunity to make tangible progress on the JTA’s outstanding list of claims. Two central issues top the association’s agenda: the long-unresolved graduate allowance dispute, and a suite of other outstanding matters related to members’ overall compensation and workplace welfare.

Even with the new meeting scheduled, the JTA was candid about the lack of movement on these priorities to date. Despite the association’s repeated good-faith efforts to move the negotiation process forward over recent months, no significant breakthrough has been achieved on any of the core demands.

Against this backdrop, the JTA has appealed to its members to extend a short window of patience to allow Tuesday’s talks to proceed without premature escalation. The association made clear that this appeal comes with a full understanding of the widespread anger and frustration that permeates the teaching profession right now. At the same time, members have been urged to remain vigilant and on high alert for further updates coming out of the negotiations.

The JTA issued a clear ultimatum to the government: if no meaningful progress is made during Tuesday’s meeting, particularly on the graduate allowance issue and other core demands, the association will put the question of next steps directly to the full membership to decide what action to take. Teachers have been instructed to stand by for official updates immediately following the conclusion of the negotiation session.

Commuters and local residents traveling through the Dunrobin Avenue/Lindsay Crescent intersection in St. Andrew are being urged to prioritize safety this week, after a weekend vehicle collision left the junction’s primary traffic signal system completely out of service. The National Works Agency (NWA), Jamaica’s public infrastructure oversight body, confirmed that the outage stems directly from Sunday’s crash, which inflicted irreversible damage on the traffic signal control unit and the underground connecting cables that power the system.

In the hours following the incident, NWA mobilized its specialized maintenance crews to the site to begin remediation work. As of Monday, crews have already finished the initial phase of cable repairs and are preparing to begin comprehensive functional testing of the newly installed control unit. The agency has shared a clear timeline for the project, noting that full restoration of the traffic signal system is on track to be finished by Tuesday afternoon, when the lights will officially be brought back online for regular operation.

While crews work to complete repairs, NWA is issuing a critical safety reminder to all motorists navigating the non-operational intersection. Under local road rules, when traffic signals are completely inoperative, no single direction of travel has automatic right of way over others. All drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians crossing the junction are required to approach slowly, yield to crossing traffic, and only proceed through the intersection once they have confirmed the path is completely clear of oncoming vehicles and other road users.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Grief-stricken relatives of a 34-year-old man with a documented history of mental illness are pressing authorities to launch an expedited, transparent investigation into his death earlier this week. Ricardo Gayle, a resident of the August Town neighborhood in St Andrew, was killed by a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier during an alleged confrontation at a Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO) checkpoint early Monday.

Initial official accounts place the altercation shortly after 3 a.m. at the security checkpoint. Immediately after the shooting, first responders rushed Gayle to the University Hospital of the West Indies, where medical staff pronounced him dead.

A visibly distraught female cousin of the deceased, speaking to local outlet Observer Online at the incident site, pushed back against framing Gayle as an armed threat. “They shouldn’t kill my cousin suh, he wasn’t a gunman,” she said. “He’s not a gunman and a three gunshot dem give him… we need justice, he was a sick man!”

Melissa Bennett, Gayle’s mother, was overcome with sorrow at the scene, collapsing in tears at multiple points and requiring comfort from other family members. When asked to speak about her son, she could barely muster a statement: “My son [was] mentally-ill. I am just lost for words right now.”

According to Bennett, her son suffered three gunshot wounds: one to the chest and two to his back. Beyond his mental health condition, Bennett and other relatives emphasized that Gayle was no stranger to local law enforcement and security personnel, who regularly turned to him for help repairing their mobile phones. They called the killing entirely unnecessary, given Gayle’s long-documented reputation in the community and non-violent nature.

“My son was a very brilliant individual… he does not like violence… he was a genius in the technology world, him fix phone for all the police dem,” Bennett said.