Mon | Jan 5, 2026

From the Blue Mountains, with love

Hayfield Primary grateful for ‘life-changing’ donations

Published:Monday | February 3, 2025 | 5:07 PM
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Acting Director General for JACRA, Wayne Hunter (centre), strikes a smile with the staff and students from the Hayfield Primary School during their visit to JACRA’s head office on Thursday. 
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Acting Director General for JACRA, Wayne Hunter (centre), strikes a smile with the staff and students from the Hayfield Primary School during their visit to JACRA’s head office on Thursday. 
Hayfield Primary School’s principal, Ucella Romocan-Stephens (left), joins her students and JACRA’s Wayne Hunter in showing off their muddy hands after planting a pimento tree.
Contributed
Hayfield Primary School’s principal, Ucella Romocan-Stephens (left), joins her students and JACRA’s Wayne Hunter in showing off their muddy hands after planting a pimento tree.
JACRA's Wayne Hunter hands over a cheque for $100,000 to the staff and students at Hayfield Primary School in St Thomas in November 2024. 
Contributed
JACRA's Wayne Hunter hands over a cheque for $100,000 to the staff and students at Hayfield Primary School in St Thomas in November 2024. 
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It was all smiles from the staff and students of Hayfield Primary School as they made their way from St Thomas to Kingston on a visit to the offices of the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA) on Thursday.

The school, which boasts a total student complement of 17, received a new lease on education following the donation of a brand-new printer and $100,000 from JACRA last November.

“As a small multi-grade school, we face a lot of shortages when it comes to teaching and learning material – we need a lot more. Multi-grade settings mean that there are multiple grades within one classroom, so it can be difficult to split up the material for each student,” said Ucella Ramocan-Stephens, Hayfield’s principal.

Stephens went on to explain that the contributions not only enable the school to purchase more of these learning materials but also help the educators in getting the small student cohort excited for learning. And, for that, she is grateful.

“Getting these gifts is really a blessing for us, especially with the printer. We’ve been having challenges with our previous printer, which slowed us down when it came to printing activities, exams, administrative tasks, and so many other things,” the principal continued.

From JACRA’s perspective, the efforts aim to rejuvenate farming communities and plant the seeds for a new generation of farmers. Acting Director General Wayne Hunter notes that it is also a small step toward addressing farmers’ needs.

“JACRA’s mandate is not only to regulate Jamaica’s agricultural commodities,” said Hunter. “Our farmers and farming communities like Hayfield have a wide range of unique and equally important needs. And so, wherever we can, we will meet those needs.”

In addition to St Thomas, the Blue Mountain region also covers the parishes of Portland and St Andrew. Because these areas tend to be difficult to traverse, some residents say they feel forgotten when compared with their low-lying counterparts.

“It feels good to be seen! Sometimes, we are so far up and the roads are so bad that people don’t really want to come this side of Jamaica. So, whatever support comes our way, we are grateful because these donations can be life-changing,” said Ramocan-Stephens.

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