Portland school-bus collision, period poverty figures, SPARK funding clash, hantavirus watch, CXC AI guidance in Tuesday briefing

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz on Tuesday published closed-circuit video from inside a state rural school bus that was struck on Monday morning near Tom’s Hope in Portland’s Rio Grande Valley, when a speeding unlicensed taxi reportedly slid into the bus as its operator braked. Posting on his official Instagram account, Vaz said the recording showed the force of the impact on both the driver and a student on board, and that about fifteen people were endangered. He said driver logs and the CCTV package would be given to the police, adding that the coaches are engineered to shield pupils and that on-board monitoring had proved its worth. The taxi operator and students on that vehicle were assessed at Port Antonio Hospital for small cuts and bruising, while the seven occupants of the school bus were described as unhurt.

The National Secondary Students’ Council said new survey work in schools nationwide backs worries about period poverty affecting close to half of Jamaican girls, with roughly one in four missing classes during menstruation. President Brian Anderson said the results were troubling. Task-force member Summer Anderson, speaking to reporters on Monday, thanked advocacy bodies and private firms that donate pads in schools and communities but cautioned that Jamaica still leans too much on gifts and stopgap fixes rather than durable answers. The council argues the problem is wider than pads alone, covering washrooms, hygiene education and reliable supplies to manage periods safely.

St Ann South Eastern MP Kenneth Russell used a Tuesday press session titled “Uncovering the facts on the Sparkle Road program” to fault the government’s accelerated road programme for patchy results in his division. He cited Johnny Spring Road in Higgintown as one route repeatedly promised help under the scheme, claimed residents were given shifting start dates before and after the last hurricane season, and said at least six published dates had elapsed without work or clear reasons. Russell said the parish holds about 225 kilometres of National Works Agency roads—the largest stock of any constituency—with some four-fifths needing rehabilitation, yet little visible progress. He named Donsville, White Hall, Nine Miles and the strip past Golden Grove Primary School as severe trouble spots, quoting himself that in wet weather the surface is treacherous. He said nine local roads sit on the programme at roughly $2.3 billion in projected cost but only $315 million—under fifteen per cent—had been earmarked, spread across three routes, with construction visibly under way on just one while two others had multiple “start” notices and no activity. Completing all nine would still rehabilitate fewer than four in ten of the agency roads there, he added, and warned breakaways in White Hall and Nine Miles need urgent attention before someone dies.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness reported no hantavirus cases on island while asking people to stay alert to overseas reports, including passengers leaving a cruise ship off West Africa linked to an outbreak investigated internationally. Officials said there was no sign of spread here. The bulletin restated that the virus usually reaches humans through rodents or their droppings and urine, with rare person-to-person spread tied to certain South American strains. Early signs can mimic flu—fever, chills, headache, muscle ache and fatigue—and may worsen to cough, breathlessness, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain; anyone with such symptoms after rodent exposure should see a clinician at once, while remembering similar pictures can occur with leptospirosis or dengue.

The Caribbean Examinations Council said it keeps tight human oversight on artificial-intelligence detection software used with school-based assessments. Director of operations Dr Nicole Manning said automated flags would never be the only reason to judge a student’s submission, because months of teacher observation, drafts and dialogue remain central to moderation. CXC reminded candidates who use AI in any way to file the required disclosure form, originality report and clear source citations under the council’s published standards.