Education Ministry to Stage PEP Camps

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will be hosting a series of Primary Exit Profile (PEP) camps to provide additional support to students, teachers and parents.

Chief Education Officer, Dr. Grace McLean, said that the camps will commence on September 15 and end October 21.

“These camps are for parents, teachers and all stakeholders. What we will do is not only have the parents and teachers going through the psychological preparation, assurance, and practice questions but we are also going to have the children. These PEP camps are designed to assist our parents. We will work to ensure that there is proper psychological preparation. We are making this a major feature of what we do,” she informed.

She was speaking at a sensitisation session on PEP and the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) for leaders and educators of independent and private institutions at Jamaica College, Old Hope Road, St. Andrew, on Wednesday (September 5).

The camps will be held at venues in each of the Ministry’s six regions.

The scheduled dates are Region One, comprising institutions in Kingston and St. Andrew on September 15 and 16; Region Two, comprising Portland, St. Thomas and St. Mary on September 22 and 23; Region Three, comprising St. Ann and Trelawny on September 29 and 30; Region Four – St. James, Hanover and Westmoreland on October 6 and 7; Region 5 – Manchester and St. Elizabeth on October 13 and 14; and Region 6 – St. Catherine and Clarendon on October 20 and 21.

For registration and additional information about the camps, interested persons can email toni-ann.rankine@ncel.gov.jm, or call, text and WhatsApp (876) 552-8376.

PEP, which students will sit for the first time next year, replaces the GSAT as the national secondary-school-placement examination. It is intended to provide an improved and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education.

The new NSC is aimed at improving the general academic performance, attitude and behaviour of students.

It places direct emphasis on project-based and problem-solving learning, with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics/Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEM/STEAM) integrated at all levels. It also allows students more hands-on experience that is similar to real-world situations, making the learning experience less abstract and more concrete.