So, this year’s results, according to Minister Williams, are the only ones directly comparable with those for 2019.Īccording to Ms Williams, 60 per cent of the students were deemed to be ‘proficient’ or ‘highly proficient’ in language arts, compared to 55 per cent in 2019, when 41,548 students took the tests. Only 22 per cent of the 36,105 students who did the tests got their first choice, 15 per cent got their second choice, and 12 per cent their third.ĭuring the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-class teaching was suspended, PEP was adjusted to accommodate the circumstances. Prior to the exams, students are given, in order of rank, seven schools they wish to attend. Those with the best results go to schools with the greatest prestige, which generally correlates with performance. In Jamaica’s highly uneven, and often elitist, secondary education system, performance in the exams is used to determine the high schools into which students are placed. Introduced in 2019, PEP, which places greater emphasis on analytical thinking than its predecessors, is designed to assess the education levels of students as they leave the primary system. The Gleaner proposes these initiatives on two grounds: one, while we are encouraged by the reported improved outcomes in this year’s PEP exams, we believe that the implied process for lifting Jamaica out of its education quagmire is likely to be too tortuous and slow two, our recommendations are primarily about borrowing and adapting systems that have worked in other jurisdictions that have faced similar crises. Put differently, massive effort in remedial teaching and learning must be undertaken in English and basic mathematics at the island’s high schools. In other words, each child, at the end of grade six, must be able to read, write and comprehend in English, and be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide.Īny child without a learning disability who does not meet these basic standards must not be transitioned to a secondary school until the deficits are made up in class and/or special after-school programmes.Īs a corollary to this initiative, it must be a mandate that at secondary schools, no student must be promoted to a higher grade if he or she is incapable of performing at that grade level. Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters.
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