Guest Speaker: Rebecca Tortello, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Education
Guest Speaker at the recent launch, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Education, Dr. Rebecca Tortello, stated that the Ministry is aware that the growth and development of special education in Jamaica “…is dependent on the ability of individuals, agencies and organizations to efficiently and effectively implement and maintain systems for the early assessment, detection, intervention, placement and monitoring of students with special needs.”
Dr. Tortello, who has special responsibility for early childhood and parenting issues, further stated that the Ministry’s commitment to the cause of early identification and early intervention was evident in the last budget allocation, when the Ministry gave a special grant to the Early Stimulation Project, to support programmes in early stimulation.
Continuing, she noted that the Ministry recognizes that in order to fully achieve its mandate of education for all, “...it is imperative that provision be made to accommodate the learning needs of all learners.” To this end, she said, “..the Ministry is giving full attention to recommendations related to improving services for children with special needs as outlined in the Task Force on Educational Reform Report”.
Coming out of this Report, the Ministry has embarked on an island wide vision and auditory screening programme. The programme is designed to train approximately eight hundred teachers to identify students with vision and hearing difficulties, with a view of implementing programmes and services to address such challenges.
