KINGSTON, Jamaica — Education Minister Ruel Reid today expressed “deep sadness” at the death of a St Catherine student yesterday, as well as the death of 14-year-old Amelia Willis who was hit by taxi while on her way to school last week. 

According to a ministry release, 14-year-old Kimberly Phillips died suddenly yesterday morning at home. The cause of her death is yet to be determined.

She was reportedly registered at the Providence Educational Centre at Willowdene in the parish in 2015 as part of the Alternative Secondary Transition Education Programme (ASTEP) programme.

ASTEP is a remedial programme for students who completed their years at the primary level of the education system without achieving mastery of the Grade Four Literacy Test (GFLT). Kimberly was in the second year of the programme and was preparing to do the Grade Nine Achievement Test at the next sitting.

Grief counsellors from the ministry are to visit the school on Tuesday. 

Reid extended his condolences to her family and school community, as well as those of 14-year-old, Amelia Willis, who was reportedly hit by a taxi on March 10 while crossing the road in the vicinity of the May Day/ Manchester Road junction in Mandeville.

Reid was quoted as saying it was always particularly sad when young lives with much promise are suddenly taken from among the community.