Social Impact with Emma » Crayons Count : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

Early Childhood Education: “You Have to Get It Right From the Start”

August 31st, 2016

The Auditorium at Jamaica College was overflowing. People spilled outside, meeting up and chatting in the warm sunlight on the neat and tidy “JC” grounds. Inside was simply packed, filled with chairs. Every seat was taken as teachers, administrators and parents awaited the official launch of the Early Childhood Certification Fair, organized by the Early […]

National Bakery’s Gary “Butch” Hendrickson: Emboldening the Manufacturing Sector

March 23rd, 2016

Gary “Butch” Hendrickson is the kind of Jamaican businessman it’s hard not to like. He is clearly not one for grand speeches that highlight his struggles, his achievements and his philanthropic acts – although these are many. Others must highlight these things, because he does not talk about himself. It’s all about the bigger picture […]

Brushing Off the Chalk: UNICEF Looks at Education Innovation

September 30th, 2014

There we were, sitting in a lecture room at the University of the West Indies, brushing off our shoulders and laughing self-consciously. What were we up to? Well, Marvin Hall, founder of Halls of Learning, had just instructed us to get into the spirit of his presentation by “brushing off the chalk.” The audience (mostly […]

A Way With Words

September 9th, 2014

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade played a masterful stroke today – International Literacy Day 2014. Its prosaic, business-like lobby was transformed – by words. Ignoring the hurried Monday lunchtime traffic outside, an audience of literature lovers, writers, government workers and a sprinkling of diplomats sat down and listened with great attention. This […]