School uniforms

Every student wears a uniform in paradise, whether in a primay school or a secondary school, and every school has a different uniform. Girls' uniforms come in a rich variety especially. I am showing here in the photos three different uniforms for girls.

Every August, parents face a challenge of preparing proper uniforms for their children for the new school year. With the hot and humid climate here, a child needs at least 3 sets of the uniform so that they can be washed every day, and the costs on parents to get them ready are not cheap. Besides, they don't look very comfortable for a child in this climate. I once asked several teachers and principals why it was that everyone was supposed to wear a uniform and if anybody ever thought about running a school without having one. According to them, uniforms are very important, even indispensable, because they cultivate among students a sense of identification with their school. I wonder how important it is for a student to develop such a sense of identity, but I never hear any complaint about uniforms either, so I suppose everyone likes having them.

UWI-Mona

Had a minor business to take care of at the University of the West Indies - Mona. The University of the West Indies - acronym UWI - has three campuses, in Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad, and the campus in Jamaica is called Mona.

The Mona campus is beautiful. I used to go there once a week, though this was the first time that I went to the campus since I returned to Kingston this time. The buildings are run down, but the campus is built on an old plantation estate, and it is a great space surrounded by mountains and the sky. There are even horses hanging out. But it also needs updated books and academic journals! Please everyone donate recent books and journals to the Main Library http://www.mona.uwi.edu/library/main_library.html ...

My business this time was at a building in the Chemistry Department. It had many big old trees, but above all, it had several functioning public telephones. I have never seen such a thing in other parts of paradise, and besides, it's so last century and charming!