SEVEN volatile communities across Jamaica are set to benefit from a six-year United Kingdom (UK)/Jamaica Violence Prevention Partnership Programme (VPPP). The Aural, Read, Respond, Oral, Write (ARROW) Literacy Software Training is the first activity under the programme now in active implementation.

The opening ceremony was held on October 30 at Immaculate Conception High School in St Andrew.

Grant funding from the UK Government in the amount of £15 million will be used to support the programme.

Governance Advisor at the United Kingdom Department for International Development, Sharon Weber, said expansion of the programme will ensure students with learning challenges will have access to this assistance.

“The results that will inform engagement will be fed into future expansion of the programme. Depending on how well you do and how you will be able to achieve the desired results, we will be scaling up to expand to additional schools. This is just the start, and over the next six years, we will be seeking to expand our engagement with schools,” she said.

The ARROW programme has been on trial in several high schools.

These include Haile Selassie High, Norman Manley High, Kingston High, Holy Trinity High, Spot Valley High and Grange Hill High, located in zones of special operations (ZOSOs) across the island.

“In the violence-prevention partnership, even though we are looking at violence we are also looking at some of the root causes. That is the reason the UK has decided to start in the schools and spread it into the communities, because that is where the difference is going to be made. The VPPP, just as how we have engaged ARROW, the idea is also to engage civil society groups as we go along, so that they can help to deliver more effectively,” Weber added.

Director of the Safety and Security in Schools Unit at the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Richard Troupe, said the ministry will benefit from a grant of $56 million in the first seven months for its role in the violence-prevention programme.

“This programme is a commitment to ensuring that we are giving all our nation’s children the chance to make use of all the educational opportunities available to them,” he emphasised.

The ARROW programme was developed by UK-based practitioner Dr Colin Lane.

It is based on learning through self-voice techniques, as well as other programmes covering reading, spelling, dictation, speech and listening skills.

These are proven to have produced significant results in children and adults across the spectrum who have learning difficulties.