New Website to be Launched for PEP

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has announced that a new website will be launched for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination.

Speaking at the Rotary Club of Kingston East and Port Royal meeting on Monday (September 24) at the Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa in St. Andrew, the Minister said the website will have PEP material for everybody – teachers, parents and students.

He noted that hard copies of the online PEP material will also be made available, given that children have different learning styles and some prefer hard-copy documents.

The Minister also reiterated that the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) textbooks can still be used in preparation for PEP.

“We have said that the GSAT textbooks are quite fine for the content. I’m saying for clarity, yes, the items have changed, but you can use the workbook for reinforcement of the knowledge, but understand that we are asking for more, not just to be able to indicate and say the answer is A, B, C, D… but to write out your answers, show your working and explain the reason for your answer,” Senator Reid said.

“What PEP is going to do is provide the prism to get all our people to be trained at a high level. There is really no magic to it. It is a fundamental shift, and it’s not a shift that Jamaicans cannot manage,” he argued.

PEP is the series of tests which has replaced GSAT as the national secondary-school entrance examination. It is intended to provide a better and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education. It comprises a Performance Task Test, Ability Task Test and a Curriculum-Based Test.

After his presentation, the Minister handed out bursaries on behalf of the Rotary Club of Kingston East and Port Royal to eight students.

They are Vanessa Blissett from the Girls’ Brigade, Tajay Bailey from the Boys’ Brigade, Shanari Cameron from the Caribbean Maritime University, Jamoy Gordon from Port Royal Primary School, Alycia Rowe from Alpha Interact Club; Toni-Ann Marsden from Windward Road Primary School; Jevaughn Wint from the Scouts Association of Jamaica, and Sharick Smythe from Harbour View Primary School.