Booklists Reduced For New School Year
By: , July 16, 2014The Key Point:
Photo: Contributed
Grade Four student Janelle Dolphy of Allman Town Primary witnesses the purchase of her textbooks by mother Hortense Dolphy from Carlton Allen of Book Express. He recently delivered books ordered by the school to Principal Candi-Lee Crooks-Smith. The cost of the set of Grade Four books was a little over $6000.The Facts
- The reduction is a result of the Ministry’s recent decision to restrict supplementary textbooks to only those it approved and to limit the quantity required per student in each grade.
- At the secondary level, students in grades seven and eight require three supplementary textbooks in Literature only, and this increases to five for grade nine students.
The Full Story
The Ministry of Education says booklists distributed by schools for the next academic year have been significantly reduced compared to previous years. The reduction is a result of the Ministry’s recent decision to restrict supplementary textbooks to only those it approved and to limit the quantity required per student in each grade.
Following this exercise, students in grades one to three are now required to purchase one Language Arts and one Maths textbook, totaling two. Students in grades four to six are required to purchase a total of four books including Language Arts, Maths, Science and Social Studies.
At the secondary level, students in grades seven and eight require three supplementary textbooks in Literature only, and this increases to five for grade nine students.
According to Chief Education Officer Dr Grace McLean, students at grades one and seven would be expected to purchase a bible, dictionary, atlas or similar material. In addition to their textbooks, she encourages students to make use of libraries and websites for other supplementary and resource materials.
Reacting to the reduction in the size of booklists, Dr McLean commends school administrators for their positive response. She notes that in some cases schools have sought and received permission to add a limited number of textbooks to their lists in order to meet their specific curricular needs.
The Chief Education Officer says the Ministry will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that schools comply with the guidelines for compiling booklists. She invites members of the public with queries to contact the Ministry’s regional offices in Kingston-922 1400-9, Port Antonio-993 5724-5, Brown’s Town- 917 8440-2, Montego Bay-953 6929-30, Mandeville-962 7098/1753 and Old Harbour-983 1654-7.
Quantity of Supplementary Textbooks Required Per Student Per Grade
|
Grade |
Language Arts |
Literature |
Math |
Science |
Social Studies |
Total |
|
1 |
1 |
N/A |
1 |
– |
– |
2 |
|
2 |
1 |
N/A |
1 |
|
|
2 |
|
3 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
2 |
|
4 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
5 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
6 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
7 |
|
3 |
|
|
|
3 |
|
8 |
|
3 |
|
|
|
3 |
|
9 |
|
5 |
|
|
|
5 |