Free CSEC Tutoring Launches in St. Elizabeth After Hurricane Melissa
Updated: Aug 29
Published August 15, 2026 | Let There Be Light Christian Residential Academy
Hurricane Melissa didn't just damage buildings in St. Elizabeth Parish. For hundreds of students entering their CSEC exam year, it disrupted the single most consequential academic year of their secondary education, and that disruption doesn't pause for the exam calendar.
This fall, Let There Be Light Christian Residential Academy is responding directly, with the launch of the Let There Be Light CSEC Intensive, a completely free academic and mentorship program for students across St. Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica.
What the program actually offers:
Small-group tutoring in Mathematics and English Language, built around a genuine diagnostic assessment, not guesswork about what students missed
A mentor matched with each student for a full academic year, not a rotating cast of unfamiliar adults
A meal provided at every session
Every element free, no tuition, no fees, no cost to any family
Why St. Elizabeth, and why now
St. Elizabeth was among the communities severely affected by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa in October 2025. The disruption extended far beyond damaged buildings: schools across affected areas were forced to close or modify operations, and examination-year students became a particular priority in the national education response. In St. Elizabeth and Manchester alone, 58 schools were classified as Priority One after sustaining significant hurricane damage.¹
Contemporary reporting documented severe damage to schools across St. Elizabeth, while education officials identified students preparing for external examinations, including CSEC, as a priority in the recovery response.²
Months later, recovery continues. As the 2026–27 academic year approaches, some hurricane-affected schools in St. Elizabeth are still undergoing repairs, with the Ministry of Education preparing contingency arrangements where necessary.³ For students preparing for CSEC, lost instructional time can mean fewer opportunities for guided practice, feedback, remediation and examination preparation.
That is the gap the Let There Be Light CSEC Intensive is being created to address.
Who Is the CSEC Intensive For?
The Let There Be Light CSEC Intensive is being created for students in St. Elizabeth who are preparing for CSEC and would benefit from focused academic support in Mathematics and English Language.
The programme is particularly designed to help students who may be carrying unfinished learning or academic gaps into their CSEC preparation, including young people whose education was disrupted during critical learning years by COVID-19 and, more recently, Hurricane Melissa.
Students do not need to be failing to benefit.
Some may need significant academic intervention. Others may understand much of the material but need stronger foundations, greater confidence, more consistent practice, closer feedback, or help turning what they know into stronger examination performance.
The goal is not to label students according to where they are struggling. It is to identify where each student is now, what may be standing between that student and greater mastery, and what targeted support can help move him or her forward.
Participation in the CSEC Intensive is completely free to families.
What Makes the CSEC Intensive Different?
The CSEC Intensive is not being designed as a conventional after-school tutoring programme where a large group of students receives more of the same instruction.
LTBL's model begins with a different question:
What does this particular student need in order to move forward?
Start With Diagnosis, Not Guesswork
Students will begin with a diagnostic assessment designed to help identify individual strengths, misconceptions, and areas of unfinished learning in Mathematics and English Language. That information will help tutors focus instruction where it is actually needed rather than assuming that every student has the same academic gaps.
Approximately Four Students to One Tutor
The programme is being structured around learning groups of approximately four students to one tutor.
That small-group environment is intended to give tutors greater opportunity to observe how individual students think, identify misunderstandings, provide immediate feedback, adjust instruction, and monitor progress more closely.
Students should have room not only to receive instruction, but to ask questions, make mistakes, explain their thinking, practice, receive feedback, and try again.
Five Days of Consistent Academic Support
Students will receive focused support five days each week.
The frequency is intentional. LTBL wants intervention to be consistent enough for tutors to identify gaps, address them, reinforce developing skills, monitor progress, and respond when a student continues to struggle.
The objective is not simply more tutoring hours.
It is more purposeful learning time.
Focused Mathematics and English Language Support
The Intensive will initially concentrate on CSEC Mathematics and English Language: two foundational subjects with implications for students' further education, training, employment, and future opportunities.
Instruction will emphasize understanding and mastery rather than memorization alone, helping students strengthen foundational skills while becoming increasingly prepared to apply what they know.
A Mentor for Every Student
Academic intervention is only part of the model.
Each participating student will be matched with a mentor for the academic year, providing another consistent adult relationship centered on encouragement, accountability, growth, and support.
The intention is for students to be known, not simply enrolled.
A Meal at Every Session
A meal will be provided at every programme session at no cost to the student.
Children should be able to focus on learning without hunger becoming another barrier to participation.
Progress Will Be Monitored
The programme is being designed to monitor student progress rather than simply count attendance.
Diagnostic information, academic performance, participation, and other appropriate indicators will help tutors understand whether students are progressing and where intervention may need to change.
For LTBL, success is not measured by how many tutoring sessions are delivered.
The question is whether students are learning.
Supporting the Whole Child
LTBL also recognizes that academic performance does not exist in isolation.
The programme will incorporate social and emotional competencies reflected in the CASEL framework, including areas such as self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness.
As a Christ-centered programme, these competencies will sit within LTBL's deeper foundation of biblical character formation through the Fruit of the Spirit:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The objective is not merely to prepare students to sit an examination.
We want to help young people develop the academic competence, confidence, discipline, character, relationships, and resilience that can serve them long after CSEC is over.
And Every Part of It Is Free
There is no tuition and no programme fee for participating families.
Academic instruction. Diagnostic assessment. Mentorship. Meals. Student support.
Free.
Because a family's financial circumstances should not determine whether a young person has access to meaningful support at a critical point in his or her education.
Part of a larger vision
The CSEC Intensive is the first programme launching under Let There Be Light Christian Residential Academy (LTBL Christian Academy), a Christ-centered educational and child-restoration institution being established in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. LTBL is being developed to combine academic excellence, Christian discipleship, character formation, mentorship and whole-child support within an educational community designed to help young people thrive.
The Academy is preparing toward its January 2027 founding launch while beginning to serve children and families through community-based initiatives now.
Get involved
Let There Be Light is currently seeking volunteers, tutors, mentors, and donors to support this program and the broader academy taking shape behind it. Learn more or apply at www.ltblacademy.org.
Sources
1. Jamaica Information Service — “98 Per Cent of Region Five Schools Reopen for Easter Term,” January 9, 2026.
2. The Gleaner — “Bolt's alma mater among hundreds of schools hit hard by Melissa,” November 9, 2025.
3. Jamaica Information Service — “Education Ministry Preparing Contingency Plans for Schools Still Under Repair,” August 18, 2026.
About Let There Be Light Christian Residential Academy
Let There Be Light Christian Residential Academy (LTBL Christian Academy) is a Christ-centered educational and child-restoration institution being established in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. LTBL exists to educate, disciple, restore and develop young people through academic excellence, character formation, mentorship and whole-child support.
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