Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller reads with Tavares Gardens Primary School students in her South West St. Andrew constituency during Read Across Jamaica Day which was observed yesterday. By her side are first-grade student Rickardo Abasha (right) and third-grader Allison Sterling. Also in the photograph are Councillor Audrey Smith (far left) and chairman of the school board, the Reverend Dr. Winston Watson. - Photo by Ross Sheil

Probably the Jamaican Prime Minister to have hugged and kissed the most people in one year, Portia Simpson Miller yesterday extended her unique political skills to the realm of babysitting.

Mrs. Simpson Miller was a motherly picture for two minutes after Ann-Marie White left her one-week-old grandson, Danté Deleon, in her arms at the Tavares Gardens Primary School.

"When him grow up I will tell him seh di Prime Minister hold him when him did a baby," Ms. White said.

Ms. White also told The Gleaner that she gave the child to the Prime Minister "because she loves children".

"Him did restless and as soon as di Prime Minista hole him, him drop asleep," Ms. White added.

However, babysitting was not on the Prime Minister's schedule yesterday. It was Read Across Jamaica Day and her stop was Tavares Gardens in Payne Avenue, St. Andrew.

With an audience which extended beyond the scores of children at the school, Mrs. Simpson Miller and some student as they read from the text, The Golden Treasures of Bible Stories. The aim of Read Across Jamaica Day is to promote literacy in the country.

Parents charged

The Prime Minister urged parents to pay closer attention to their children's schoolwork, and make every effort to meet regularly with teachers in order to measure the progress of their children in school.

While the Prime Minister read with the children, a crowd gathered inside the schoolyard, waiting for a chance to see and touch her.

"Today is for the children," one grown woman commented, yet she rushed into the schoolyard shortly after the Prime Minister's arrival.

But underneath the pleasure and excitement brought by the presence of the Prime Minister is a needy school.

"We have a number of needs, like our bathroom facilities. We need a computer lab and some computers and we need repairs to the buildings because right now the roof is leaking very badly, when the rain falls the classrooms are wet," said Linette Malcolm.

There is also need for an auditorium, the principal said, as events, even the hosting of the Prime Minister, had to be held outside. The need for a sick bay is also on the list.

But what is needed almost immediately are sponsors for the school's dance troupe, which were recently invited to Los Angeles for a performance this summer. The group, which also entertained Mrs. Simpson Miller as she read to the children, will need somewhere in the region of $60,000 to send the children.