Voices Magazine Vol3 Issue 2

VOICES Bi-Monthly Magazine of the University of Technology, Jamaica | August - September 2019 26 Jamaica Safe Schools Project Successfully Implemented by FOBE & FENC T he Faculty of The Built Environment in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering and Computing have successfully completed the Jamaica Safe Schools Project (JSSP). The project was funded by the World Bank and involved the infrastructural inspections of all public schools in Jamaica. The three partners on the project were The World Bank, the Government of Jamaica through the Ministry of Education Youth and Information’s National Education Trust (NET), and the University of Technology, Jamaica represented by The Faculty of the Built Environment (FOBE) and the Faculty of Engineering and Computing (FENC). The general objective of the Jamaica Safe Schools Project (JSSP) was to provide a database to support the Government of Jamaica in mainstreaming disaster risk management in the regulation,planning,designing,construction and management of school infrastructure along with the national education sector development plan. The University of Technology, Jamaica carried out comprehensive data collection in support of the objectives. The project involved academic staff and students selected from: OBE and FENC. The Safe Schools Project involved the inspection of all public schools (972 as at 2016) - preschool, primary and secondary in Jamaica to address the outlined project aims. With the overall understanding of the exposure, vulnerability, and hazard-prone areas across the country, the Government of Jamaica is now equipped through with the information required for guiding decisions about prioritization and investment plans for the way forward. The UTech team involving project directors Dr. Garfield Young and Professor Nilza Aples, Project Manager Mr. Laurence Neufville and others who made final presentations to the World Bank and the NET and a separate presentation to Dr. Grace McLean, Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and her team. The UTech, Jamaica Team at its final presentation to the World Bank team with representatives from the Ministry of Education.