89.4 Per Cent of PATH Students Placed in Schools of their Choice

The Ministry of Education and Youth is reporting that 89.4 per cent of students who are on the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) achieved passes for schools of their choice in the recent Primary Exit Profile (PEP).

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, gave the report during a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday (June 28).

She noted that, overall, 85.8 per cent of the PEP cohort attained passes for one of their seven school choices.

A total of 35,618 grade-six students sat the 2023 PEP, the results of which were released last Friday (June 23).

Minister Williams noted that this is the first year, since the assessment started in 2019, that the results can be compared on a like-for like basis, as students were able to sit all components of the grade-six test, as was the case with the 2019 cohort.

She noted that 57 per cent of students were categorised as ‘proficient’ or ‘highly proficient’ this year, according to the National Standards Curriculum, as against 41 per cent in 2019.

“These are the children who were in grade two in 2019. They spent most of their school life. so far, in the virtual world – 2020, 2021 and a part of 2022. They understand mixed modality and can easily switch between the two. These are the children of resilience, and so we congratulate them wholeheartedly,” Minister Williams noted.

She said that the Ministry will continue to use the PEP results to bring targeted support to students who need such intervention.

“We have excellent information that we will utilise to improve the results even more than what we’re showing in 2023,” the Minister said.