Education Ministry to Publish Individual PEP Scores

Minister with responsibility for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Karl Samuda, says the Ministry will be publishing the scores for each student that sat the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations.

“We will be publishing the individual scores and the results of the tests that were taken on each student. We are expecting that, this will be released next week, if not by the end of this week,” he said.

“That should satisfy a number of persons, who have been apprehensive and have adopted a posture of doubt. We want to remove all doubt as to the quality of skill and expertise that was brought to bear on this exercise,” Mr. Samuda added.

He was giving an update on the PEP results in the House of Representatives on July 2.

Minister Samuda informed that overall, students performed well in the inaugural sitting of PEP.

“The results from students’ performance in the various subject areas show that less than 10 per cent of all students are at the Beginning Level. This means that less than 10 per cent of the students who sat the examination demonstrated limited or no evidence of the required competencies and skills for readiness in grade 7 in all subject areas,” he said.

At the other end of the spectrum, a range of six per cent to 13 per cent of students are categorised as Highly Proficient in the various subjects. This means that these students demonstrate an advanced level of the required skills and competencies for readiness in grade 7.

Minister Samuda told the House that the students who have been categorised as ‘Beginning’ will benefit from intensive ongoing academic support at grade 7, noting that the remedial work will be undertaken by trained teachers.

“We are seeking to expand the number of teaching staff and those teachers who would have been specially trained in remediation, so that they can assist the children to the maximum,” he said.

“We have our greatest challenge in the areas of Mathematics, Science, and English Language. We would be seeking to expand the number of teachers and the levels of discipline that they are particularly skilled in to give these students special attention,” he added.

A total of 42,846 students (22,298 males and 20,538 females) were registered to sit PEP, and 100 per cent of the students were placed in seven-year high schools.

The Ministry was able to achieve this as a result of the provision of additional classrooms at a number of schools, as well as the phased upgrading of Stony Hill Primary and Junior High and Discovery Bay All-Age, and commencement of the process at Mico Practising and Junior High.