Education Minister Commends School Leaders for Supporting Students Impacted by COVID-19

Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, has commended school leaders for going the extra mile to support students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You worked during the holidays, and you were able to bring them home. They are not doing worse than they were at grade four. That is to be celebrated and Jamaica has to celebrate you,” she said.

Addressing a School Leadership Conference for Principals, Vice Principals and Senior Teachers in Clarendon at the Bahia Principe Resort in St. Ann, today (July 15), the Minister praised the principals and teachers for “absolutely fantastic work”.

“If you had not done that work, can you imagine what our current results would have been this year? But you did the work,” the Minister emphasised.

She commended Region 7 of the Ministry, of which Clarendon is a part, for incorporating awards in non-traditional areas.

“There are awards for innovation in STEAM education. There are even awards in behavioural interventions, which is big, because we understand that you didn’t create the problem, but you get it in your school,” the Minister noted.

“You get the children who have not been socialised appropriately in their home and in their community. You get them and you’re having to deal with them,” she said.

Dr. Morris Dixon  also rejected the narrative that labels some schools or students as “bad”.

“I don’t see any school with bad children. I see schools that are operating in challenging environments and who have to do things that may be different,” she pointed out.

Reflecting on one school that had been criticised nationally, the Minister shared that she saw a school where most of their children came from communities with significant violence, where parents were not involved in the lives of the children. “Despite all of that, they were doing the best for those children,” she said.

The Minister  also described the compassionate actions of a school nurse who personally coordinated monthly hospital visits for children with serious health issues.

“She sends a note home to the parent, the parent doesn’t take them to the doctor, and she arranged for the school bus with other teachers to take the children to the adolescent clinic. She didn’t have to do that,” she said.

Dr. Morris Dixon said Jamaica must recognise the extraordinary demands being placed on schools. “We’re asking our schools to do more than just teach. You’re having to re-socialise. You’re having to be the parent that is not there,” she added,

The Minister emphasised the need for a national shift in how schools are assessed and celebrated.

“The schools I celebrated the most were those who improved. I’m a big believer in the  value-added approach to evaluating schools,” she said.

“We have to start celebrating all the assets of success we see in our education system, not just the CSEC and the name-brand schools. We have to celebrate everyone,” the Minister said.