Students from seven primary schools across the Corporate Area and Clarendon, including children with disabilities, will benefit from a suite of educational products focused on climate change.

The products are being provided under a pilot project being undertaken by the Climate Studies Group at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, aimed at strengthening the country’s resilience to climate change.

Included is a textbook entitled, ‘Let’s Make a Difference…A Caribbean Primer on Climate Change’ and an animation series based on the text.

The suite of products, which were launched recently at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, also entails two key climate studies documents, including an executive summary on the State of the Caribbean Climate report and a YouTube channel on the report, which is formatted with audiovisual content for the disabled community.

There is also a Caribbean science volume prepared by UWI, and formatted in braille, which provides major updates on climate change.

The seven schools that form the pilot for the project have received reading gardens.

They are Randolph Lopez School of Hope, Constant Spring Primary and Junior High, Franklin Town Primary, St. Peter Claver Primary, and Harbour View Primary in Kingston and St. Andrew, and Mount Airy Primary and Infant, and Richmond Park Primary in Clarendon.

Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at UWI, Mona, Professor Michael Taylor, informed that under the project, the schools were provided with an eco-friendly gazebo and or portable tent with outdoor seating, powered by a fixed or portable solar energy-based solution.

He said they also received gardens with endemic plants and trees, to encourage the students to care for and study their growth and developed a culture of protecting the environment.

“Two of the schools have also received automatic weather stations [through the Meteorological Service of Jamaica]. They, therefore, join Jamaica in its quest to develop resilience through capturing information,” he noted, adding that an app will also be developed as part of the immersive learning experience.