Stephanie Coleman, Gleaner Writer
Brenton McLean (left), teacher at Dunoon Technical High School and students Nico Tyndale (second left), Terry-Ann Goodridge (centre), Donald Hall (second right) and Samuel Thompson (right), principal. Sanya Smith is in the forefront. The Dunoon Technical High School team was one of the teams with the best overall projects in the Access to Information Students' Challenge Competition. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
STUDENTS WHO participated in the Gleaner Company's Access to Information (ATI) Students' Challenge gave mixed reviews on their experience with government agencies and ministries from which they tried to get information, using the ATI Act.
The six high schools that entered the competition in October 2005 whittled down to three at its close on January 19, 2006. The remaining schools were Wolmer's Boys' School, Dunoon Technical High School and Glenmuir High School. Each student group was required to submit to the ATI officer at the relevant ministries, four questions of particular importance or interest to the locality or the school, await the responses and document their experience. The schools were vying for cash prizes of over $100,000 including 'best project' and 'request with the highest national importance'. They were also to create a log book, documenting all their activities related to the questions they asked.
COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT
Wolmer's Boys' School, whose team requested information on the qualifications of teachers in their division, the job descriptions of the mayor and the city engineer of Kingston as well as information on the Yallahs ford, presented a complete and comprehensive project. They presented copies of the requested documents as well as explanations when the information was not forthcoming. The team members reported that the ATI staff at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) was very accommodating to their requests. However, they did not receive information on the Yallahs ford, which some students have to traverse to attend school. Their question on the qualification of educators in their area raised the issue of the specificity of requests, relating to every teacher up to the secondary level, for the entire country. This, as against the arrangement of the information as lists.
Dunoon Technical High School had very little success obtaining information on the Kingston Harbour, repairs to Cawley Road, the Government-sponsored CXC exams, and the maintenance of Jamaica House and King's House. The students received information on the Kingston Harbour. However, the information provided did not fully answer their queries on clean-up efforts for the harbour. The other questions, that included two last-minute requests on budget allocation to education and revenues from the toll road, were not answered beyond the letter of acknowledgement. The Dunoon team said that the processing period of 30 days, that usually ended in a mere letter of acknowledgement, was too long and that the language of the legal documents was difficult to understand.
MOST PRACTICAL REQUEST
Glenmuir High School who in the opinion of the judges made the most practical request, had concerns about the environmental stability of the Kennedy Grove Housing Scheme in Clarendon. The plight of residents of this scheme received national attention when it was submerged during the record-breaking hurricane season of 2005. The Glenmuir team also sought to get from the ministry, documents showing whether or not it had granted permission for the housing development.They did not receive the environmental impact assessment (EIA) they requested, but a letter from the Clarendon Parish Council to the Ministry of Environment and Housing dated January 1998 granting the council's approval of the project on the condition that certain provisions for drainage were met. Glenmuir citied the non-cooperation of government staff as one of the major hurdles of the ATI.
The teams from Dunoon Technical High School and Wolmer's Boys took the prize for the best overall project.
The competition, sponsored by the Gleaner Company and the Access to Information Advisory Stakeholders Committee, aimed at bringing the ATI into the forefront of people's minds so that they can know that the act works and that they can use it. Chairperson of the committee, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, said at the awards presentation held at The Gleaner on Wednesday, that she was impressed with the breadth of the local and national interest in the questions raised by the students.
