Mineral Heights Primary School in Clarendon removed from shift system

The Mineral Heights Primary School in Clarendon has been taken off the shift system.

It is the latest institution to be removed from the system by the Ministry of Education.

This follows the addition of 12 new classrooms under the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) Basic Needs Trust Fund.

Education Minister Senator Ruel Reid, in his remarks at the official handover ceremony last Thursday, informed that the nearby May Pen Primary School is next in line to be removed from the shift system.

Reid noted that infrastructure is needed to accommodate at least 1,500 students.

“It (May Pen Primary) is one of the largest primary schools in the Caribbean. Already, my technical officers are in the field doing the verification so that we can plan for that expansion and development,” he informed.

He gave the Government’s commitment to transition all schools to full-day institutions.

“We still have primary and high schools that are on shift… so we have some urgency in which to expand our capacity to ensure everybody has an equal opportunity to attend school at the regular time and get the benefit of a full day programme,” Reid said.

Principal of Mineral Heights Primary Lanzeford Howell expressed gratitude for the new classrooms.

“Our students are now able to benefit from a whole-day education that provides them with the enriched activities that children are supposed to benefit from in primary school,” he said.

He noted that teachers can now focus more on enriching the lives of students.

“We are in the era of promoting learning, critical thinking, and this facility that JSIF has contributed to the school will help us in terms of getting our children to function as 21st-century learners,” Howell added.  

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