By Shuntel Glasgow
The aspiration to one day write the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination remains alive for Jamal Reid as he battles with the changes to his physical and mental condition and as his healing takes its long and winding course.
Life changed for Jamal after an altercation with another student over a School Based Assessment (SBA) which first resulted in threats on social media ended with him being struck to the head with a cricket bat at Golden Grove Secondary School, on November 9 last year. Jamal was at the time anxiously preparing for his CSEC exams, and his mother, Holly Bess, was overjoyed because Jamal was given an opportunity that she never had. However, when Jamal was hospitalized, his family was greeted with the diagnosis that he had sustained a fractured skull which resulted in brain damage.