In a startling revelation, Bahamian Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin disclosed that a 12-year-old boy was found living alone in a car.
This came to light during efforts by school attendance monitors aimed at re-enrolling students who had dropped out.
Reports are that the child has since been placed under the state’s care. Minister Hanna Martin chose not to delve into specifics regarding the situation.
The larger issue at hand
For Hanna Martin, such instances are not isolated. They underscore the pressing need to ensure children do not slip through the cracks.
“These are the issues that we face. Now, we can ignore it and turn the next way, but that will come back to haunt us and further hurt us anyhow because a child should not fall by the wayside,” she told Parliament.
Efforts to re-engage students pay off
Despite hurdles, the initiatives to bring absent students back to school have borne fruit.
Hanna Martin shared that as a testament to their success, school attendance figures for September soared to an impressive 95 per cent.
She said that endeavors are in place to locate and reintegrate students, with a primary aim of transitioning them from streets to classrooms.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning has been profound. Initiatives have been introduced to address the learning deficits witnessed during this period.
A recent survey revealed that 44 per cent of public school students require urgent learning intervention and Martin said after the third testing, they have found that preliminary results revealed that 60 per cent of the students have shown academic growth.
“Forty per cent accelerated and 20 per cent typical. Fourth graders have shown the greatest accelerated process with 62 per cent growth in reading.”
“However, the main number of 44 per cent has only been reduced by four per cent, so we still have a target area of 40 per cent that we have to continue to work with, but we are seeing progress and we’re seeing the students who were at grade level as a result of our efforts are now above grade level.”
Strategies for continued growth
Hanna Martin further shared that 40 per cent are above grade level now and 20 per cent are now at grade level and that strategies to deal with learning loss include individualized learning, a targeted focus on certain subjects each term, after-school programs, and the assistance of non-governmental agencies.
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