Smooth Start to 2008/09 Academic Year Anticipated

Deputy Chief Education Officer for Student Empowerment in the Ministry of Education, Salomie Evering, has said that the Ministry is anticipating a smooth start to the school year.
Speaking during a JIS Think Tank session at the agency’s head office in Kingston on Thursday August 14, Mrs. Evering said this was based on the implementation of a number of programmes, and improvements to infrastructure at institutions.
“The Ministry of Education is anticipating a smooth opening for the 2008/09 school year. So far, we have been working closely with all six regions in ensuring that everything is in place for a smooth opening,” she declared.
Mrs. Evering outlined that high schools have already received 50 per cent of their grants, adding that by the end of the week, they should be getting additional funds to cover emergency and maintenance repairs.
“By the end of this week, they (schools) should be getting $67, 360,000 for maintenance and emergency repairs. These will include infant, primary, and all age schools,” she informed.
In terms of the implementation of programmes, the Deputy Chief Education Officer, advised that the Ministry has been focussing on literacy and numeracy, noting that the literacy rate was not satisfactory, and that a number of measures have been put in place to improve it.
“September has been declared ‘Literacy Month’, but for the rest of the school year, we are going to focus strongly on literacy. What we have done so far, to ensure that literacy will improve and that performance will improve, (is) we have moved from the Grade 1 Readiness Inventory, to have a Grade 1 IndividualProfile that has three parts. This will focus on the child’s readiness for school, the school’s readiness for the child, and also, what we need to put in place for the child’s social readiness. So we are not just looking at academics, we are looking at the whole child,” Mrs. Evering explained.
She added that, in its bid to strengthen the literacy of students, the Ministry has drafted different checklists for students at all levels, which will also guide teachers.
“As part of strengthening literacy, we looked at the Grade 1 Individual Profile and we also looked at the child at the end of Grade 1. In draft form, we have developed a checklist that will be continuous, there are some skills that the Grade 1 child needs to know, and as they learn them, we begin to check them off. So at the end of Grade 1, we will know,” she explained. The Ministry official added that “while you are ticking off, there are the gaps that will be filled. Then the child can go to Grade 2, and the teacher (will) continue working with that child.”
She advised that a draft checklist will be developed to guide teachers, but reminded that additionally there will be the formal Grade 3 and 4 diagnostic tests, one of which has also been drafted for Grade 5.
With Education Minister, Andrew Holness, declaring that students, who have not mastered the Grade 4 literacy test, will not be allowed to sit the GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test), the Deputy Chief Education Officer, told JIS News that the Ministry was moving post-haste to ensure that extensive work is done with students, who are unsuccessful at Grade 4, in order to facilitate their re-sitting the exam in Grade 5.
“We are doing everything from early childhood upwards, including inspections and training of teachers, so that we will have the ripple effect in the system,” she emphasised.
Mrs. Evering further stated that recommendations were made, out of a recent retreat with the Ministry’s Educational Services Department, for the development of special programmes for Grade 6 students, who have not mastered literacy. This, as, “they cannot be held at the primary level indefinitely,” she pointed out. According to Mrs. Evering, the Ministry is advocating a reduction in subject area skills for students who have not mastered, and are now at the Grade 6 level.
“We need to look at the subject and curriculum offerings, because we can’t allow them to do nine subjects, when they can’t even do three. We need to work with them, according to their level of ability, and give support. The Ministry is advocating a reduction in the subject-skilled areas, and, if by assessment, the children are from anywhere near moderate to severe in their disability, we will look at special facilities for those children,” she informed.