STEWART TOWN, Trelawny — Freeman’s Hall Primary and Stewart Town Primary and Infant schools, both located in Trelawny, were the toast of the Ananda Alert Essay and Poster competition awards ceremony, held at the Westwood High School for girls recently.

The topic for the competition was “School Safety A Everybody Business”.

The competition was put on by Westwood High School, as part of their wider participation in the Ananda Alert School Project competition.

Kenesia Mendez of Sawyer’s Primary topped the essay competition, while Topaz Dixon of Freeman’s Hall Primary, finished second. Dixon took top honours in the poster competition, while Tasania Daley of Sawyers Primary was second.

The first-placed winners of each category were presented with the Child Ambassador’s Trophy, a cheque for $5,000, donated by the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, and a gift sponsored by the National Children’s Registry (NCR).

The second-placed winners of each category were presented with medals, a cheque of $2,500, courtesy of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, Child Ambassador’s Medal and a gift package from the NCR.

The teachers from each school were presented with gift baskets, courtesy of Bravo Supermarket.

Westwood High principal, Karen Francis, who was in attendance at the awards ceremony, held in the school’s media centre, had high praises for the participating schools.

She also expressed that the Westwood High School students are expected to again do well in the national competition this year.

“I know girls, you will do well in the Ananda Alert competition in helping to find missing girls and boys. Just being a part of this activity is a great thing that you are doing. “We know that when children are missing it can be quite distressful for parents and guardians, so being a part of this competition is a great experience,” Francis said.

Ananda Alert child ambassador, Sandrene McKenzie, the head girl of Westwood High, who played an integral role in her school’s outstanding performance in last year’s national competition, explained that the staging of the school’s safety and security essay and poster contest was an effort to raise awareness.

“A part of the awareness project was to involve schools from within the region without guidance counsellors that are not au fait about the Ananda Alert system,” McKenzie stressed.

Other projects undertaken by the Westwood High School team included reconstruction of the main gate leading to the hostel, de-bushing of the hostel and area leading to the sixth form campus, Easter Egg Hunt competition, the staging of five public forums on topic such as “The Link Between Media and Missing Children” and “Search and Rescue Protocol for Missing Children”.

The Ananda Alert System was originally established in the Ministry of Local Government, but was later transferred, in March of 2013, to the Ministry of Youth and Culture and currently operates from the Office of Children’s Registry.

In June 2016, OCR reported a 90 per cent recovery rate of missing children, which has been attributed mainly to the Ananda Alert System.

The OCR has formed alliances with the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), Missing Person Call Centre (MPCC) and a few media houses such as the Jamaica Information Service, in publicising information on missing and recovered children.