Gov’t Providing a Subsidy for CSEC Students to Resit Exams

Acting Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Kasan Troupe, says the Government will be providing a subsidy for secondary-level students to retake their exit exams this year, due to the challenges caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“We know that the pandemic has really created some disruptions, and so for some of our students the results for subjects like math were not impressive,” she pointed out.

“We would have provided in this year’s Budget, because of that, the subsidy for you to get the opportunity to sit those subjects again. This is just a special provision for this year, for those students, given the pandemic experience,” she noted.

Dr. Troupe was addressing stakeholders during the Sixth-Form Pathway programme virtual town hall, hosted by the Ministry on Thursday (November 4).

Dr. Troupe noted that the Ministry provides a subsidy for students to sit four Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects. These are Mathematics, English, one science subject, Information Technology or Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPEM).

“For those on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), once you have the qualifying scores, you get up to eight CSEC subjects covered. We also pay for one of your National Vocational Qualifications of Jamaica (NVQJ) skilled exams at grade 11,” she said.

She noted that the support will continue in the Sixth-Form Pathways programme. Students will benefit from three subject subsidies for Communication Studies and two units of their choice.

The Sixth-Form Pathways is part of the Ministry’s implementation of a seven-year high-school programme.

It will allow students to pursue a two-year course of study with alternative opportunities alongside the traditional sixth-form curriculum.

Dr. Troupe said that all students who register for the programme will benefit from a grant of $17,000 and if the pupil accesses the programme at a public tertiary institution, the Ministry will pay a grant of $60,000.

Students who pursue the programme through a private tertiary institution will receive a grant of $80,000.

Dr. Troupe said that the preliminary cost for the Pathways programme is estimated at $1.5 billion.