Quality Education Circle Launched for East Central St. Andrew Schools

Schools in East Central St. Andrew are to benefit from a Quality Education Circle (QEC 3) geared towards improving student performance and overall educational outcomes.

The programme, which was officially launched during a ceremony on Thursday (February 8), at the Merl Grove High School Auditorium, 77-79 Constant Spring Road, incorporates institutions at the primary and secondary levels. The objective is to ensure that students receive quality education.

QEC Convenor and Education Officer, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Joan Gordon-Shaw, explained that the initiative involves a diverse group of school administrators and other stakeholders in East Central St. Andrew coming together to create a learning circle.

Through this medium, educators and other stakeholders will meet at specific times throughout the school year to share best practices, discuss challenges, propose solutions, assess progress made and celebrate achievements.

She noted that East Central St. Andrew has a large concentration of institutions that will benefit from the intervention.

Regional Director, Region One, Dr. Kasan Troupe, noted that the initiative is in keeping with the Ministry’s focus on “equity, quality and equality”.

“We are big on access to education and big on growing our schools. The QEC concept is so designed to ensure that we support each other, we leverage partnership and assess where we are and look at our strengths/weakness and we are able to set targets and monitor our progress,” she pointed out.

Principal of Merl Grove High School, Dr. Marjorie Fullerton, said that QEC 3 is geared towards improving students’ performance and the overall outcomes for schools, “and will ultimately pay off across the educational landscape of our country”.

“The QEC 3 is a significant and timely initiative, since it supports the Ministry’s response to public demand for quality education for our students, fostered by high standards, competency, commitment and accountability,” Dr. Fullerton said.

Participating high schools in QEC 3 include Holy Childhood High; Tarrant High; Kingsway High; Merl Grove High; and Norman Manley High.

Primary and Preparatory Schools are St. Jude’s, Dunrobin, and Half-Way Tree Primary; and Holy Childhood, New Life, and Rose Gordon Preparatory.

Sponsors of QEC 3 include Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Joan Duncan Foundation, Digicel Foundation, Kiwanis Club, Food For The Poor, and Musson Jamaica Limited.