A $3.7-billion contract has been signed for Jamaica’s first STEAM Academy at Greater Bernard Lodge in St Catherine, a school designed for about 2,400 students in grades seven to 13.

Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon says the full $18 billion needed to rebuild hurricane-damaged schools has been allocated, with tougher building standards written into the programme.

Land minister Robert Montague announced a revolving fund to pay surveyor fees for landholders with two acres or less, and said his ministry has trained church lawyers so that church-owned schools, clinics and playing fields can eventually be titled.

Three people died when a rain-weakened school building in Accra New Town, used by a church despite repeated orders to stop and the arrest of its pastor, collapsed during a Sunday service, Accra’s mayor said.

Antigua’s historic Old Catholic School and Church near Government House is to become a permanent hub for creative workers, with renovations due by November 2026 ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

The Bahamas built a shelter purpose-engineered for Category 5 storms. Jamaica still relies on schools and public buildings never designed for that job, and Melissa exposed real gaps even in newer infrastructure.

At the 2026 National Leadership Prayer Breakfast, Rev Dr Peter Garth urged Jamaicans to keep rebuilding homes after Hurricane Melissa, as funds went towards a wellness centre at Manning’s School in Westmoreland.

A St Catherine programme will move about 200 students from Melissa’s hardest-hit parishes into local schools, with church congregations hosting them in their homes and providing dormitory space and supervision until June 2026.

At least 39 Catholic properties, including schools, universities, farms and pastoral centres, have been seized in Nicaragua since 2022, Confidencial reported, with the Jesuits alone losing nine, among them the Central American University.

Grace Community Baptist Church in Kingstown Park, St Vincent, plans to build Grace Christian Academy, a EC$1.4 million primary school on its own church site, funded by members, Christian organisations and overseas churches.