Starting this September, students in Jamaica will no longer be automatically promoted to the next grade level regardless of their academic performance — a major shift aimed at tackling long-standing issues in literacy and numeracy.
The announcement came from Dr. Adrian Stokes, Chairman of the Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC), during a press conference at Jamaica House on Wednesday.
“Students who are not at the requisite level will be placed on a pathway that allows them to remediate the learning challenges they are experiencing. Individual learning plans will be developed for these students to ensure proper targeting of learning challenges,” Dr. Stokes explained.
He noted that the blanket promotion of unprepared students had created major challenges at the high school level, where some first-formers are expected to tackle as many as 10 subjects without foundational skills.
“These students, some of them are placed in what is called the pathway three by the Ministry. They require focused attention to correct fundamental issues with literacy and numeracy,” he said.
To ease the pressure and sharpen the focus, Dr. Stokes said these students will now be required to take only six subjects in their first year of high school.
“These students will be taken through a more targeted programme to ensure they are better equipped to pursue a successful secondary school life. It’s a very important development,” he added.
Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, said the number of subjects students pursue will increase over time based on their academic growth.
“They will, over time, as we deal with the literacy and numeracy problems, be exposed to all of the beautiful subjects that are there,” Dr. Morris Dixon said.
