EDUCATION: Top Hill Gets New Infant School

The community of Top Hill, Clarendon are the beneficiaries of a brand new infant school for its children.

Pharmaceutical giant Cari-Med, led by philanthropist Glen Christian, has constructed a state-of-the-art structure at a cost of more than $70 million on land donated by the Jamaica Baptist Union, with the Ministry of Education taking over the management of the institution. The ministry will ensure that there will be free access and better standards available for the 140 students enrolled at the school, which will be called the Evelyn Mitchell Infant School, named in honour of Christian’s maternal parent.

Minister of Education Andrew Holness, in his address to the gathering last Thursday, thanked Christian for his philanthropy and commitment to Jamaica. He made an appeal to all affluent, successful and well-thinking Jamaicans to continue with our long and deep history of philanthropy in Jamaica.

Education history

The history of education in Jamaica is closely linked to churches and trust. Holness reminded the audience that before there was central government provision of education, civil society, churches, bequeathed estates and general philanthropy built the foundation infrastructure for education.

The Evelyn Mitchell Infant School will continue the tradition of church, civil society philanthropy and state. The minister challenged other Jamaicans to follow the example of Glen Christian and the Cari-med Foundation and invest in schools. The Ministry of Education has established the National Education Trust to promote new public/private partnerships in education.

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Originally published Mar 23, 2011 in The Jamaica Gleaner
Link: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110323/news/news3.html

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