JIS: The Government will be spending $116.8 million over four years to undertake a comprehensive review of the education system.

 

This follows Cabinet’s approval for Jamaica to participate in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2021.

 

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, made the disclosure at Wednesday’s (October 17) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

 

Jamaica established a task force in 2004 to review and evaluate the education system.

 

“Since then, however, there has been no further comprehensive review of our education system,” he noted.

 

PISA is an international assessment measuring student performance in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy.

 

“It focuses on the ability of students to apply unfamiliar contexts and facilitates the gathering of information pertaining to the education system, and ultimately assists in enriching data analysis,” Senator Reid explained.

 

He noted that the triennial survey will facilitate the evaluation and ranking of the Jamaican education system against other countries.

 

Senator Reid said that PISA’s reach globally has steadily increased from 42 to 80 nations. Trinidad and Tobago is the only other state in the English-speaking Caribbean currently participating in PISA.

 

CAPTION:  Senator Ruel Reid, Minister of Education, Youth and Information

JIS: A website to assist teachers, parents and students in preparation for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) is now fully operational.

 

Persons may access the website at www.moey.gov.jm/pep.

 

This was disclosed by Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, during Wednesday’s (October 17) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

 

“We encourage our parents, teachers and students to visit the site and make use of the available resources,” he said.

 

Senator Reid informed that the Ministry has also distributed a suite of materials to schools across the island, including practice items, registration manuals and sample test booklets.

 

He said the Government is moving ahead with the scheduled implementation of PEP as the national secondary-school entrance examination.

 

“We already explained that the curricula had been rolled out from two years ago, and in terms of our testing point of view… I think whatever were the reviews that were required have been done and we’re going full steam ahead in that regard. We can’t in the middle of the programme now revert; that is not possible,” he said.

 

PEP comprises a Performance Task, which will be conducted in March 2019, and an Ability Test and Curriculum-Based Test, which will be administered in February 2019 and April 2019, respectively.

 

Senator Reid noted that sensitisation sessions are being held at various levels, and advised that persons who have challenges should indicate these to the Ministry.

 

“The curriculum is not rocket science; it is the same content and it is essentially using a different methodology, which all teachers would have been exposed to, including principals having gone to university, or gone to teachers’ college,” he said.

 

Senator Reid noted that PEP includes a variety of responses and is “not largely driven” by multiple-choice responses.

 

“This is not something out of the ability of the student. It is very much within the same content area, just that you are asking the students to put on their thinking caps,” he pointed out.

 

PEP has replaced the Grade Six Achievement Test (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.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid addressing Wednesday’s (October 17) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says the Special Education Policy, aimed at providing a framework to meet the educational needs of special students, is now before Cabinet for approval.

 

He was speaking at the 2018 Annual Conference of the Association of Principals and Vice Principals of Secondary Schools held at the Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort and Spa on October 14.

 

The policy, drafted by the Ministry’s Special Education Unit, will complement the Disabilities Act, which makes provision to safeguard and enhance the welfare of persons with disabilities across Jamaica.

 

Its two main goals are ensuring equity and access to educational opportunities; and to promote a system of inclusive education where possible.

 

The policy seeks to protect the rights of children and youth with disabilities against discrimination in educational settings, and it promotes awareness of students’ right to quality education. In addition, it will ensure that students are provided with the necessary accommodations they need in the educational setting.

 

Senator Reid noted that over the last academic year, the Ministry increased the support for students with special needs by providing additional caregivers through the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) Programme.

 

“Over 60 families are benefiting from this programme, which allows students with special needs to remain in their community schools and be educated among their peers while receiving the support needed to function effectively in the school environment,” he explained.

 

“This includes several students in rural Jamaica who are blind and would have otherwise had to board in Kingston to attend the (Salvation Army) School for the Blind,” he noted.

 

The Minister said, further, that a new curriculum for Students with Moderate to Profound Intellectual Disabilities was recently launched in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

 

It addresses language and communication, mathematics, science, physical education, music and life skills.

 

“This curriculum seeks to provide students with daily living skills… and a level of social skills that will assist him/her to interact appropriately with family and the wider community,” Senator Reid noted.

 

Meanwhile, new special education centres were opened at Church Teachers’ College in Mandeville and Sam Sharp Teachers’ College in Montego Bay at the start of the new academic year.

 

These, along with the Savanna-la-Mar Inclusive Academy in Westmoreland, and the Lyssons Centre of Excellence in St. Thomas, which were opened in 2017, add to the facilities established across the island that provide support for children with special needs.

 

Senator Reid said the Ministry has undertaken to provide financial and technical support for a new programme at the School for Therapy Education and Parenting of Children with Multiple Disabilities (STEP Centre) in Kingston.

 

“This programme targets students at the early-childhood level who have physical disabilities and are also visually impaired. The programme is intended to equip these students to transition to the primary level,” he noted.

 

He said that the Special Education Unit provides Braille and large-print material for persons who are blind or visually impaired.

 

In addition, students with special needs are able to receive accommodation for national examinations.

 

This may include extended time, readers/writers, examination in alternative format (braille/large print), breaks or prompters,” he added, noting that a psycho-educational assessment report or a medical report must be presented with a request for accommodation on registering for a national exam.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, speaking at the 2018 Annual Conference of the Association of Principals and Vice Principals of Secondary Schools, held at the Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort and Spa on October 14.

JIS: Opportunities for certification in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) training are now available at the Trench Town Polytechnic College (TTPC), in St. Andrew.

 

The college commenced the training in early September, as part of their Associate Degree programme, in partnership with the Montego Bay based iTELBPO Smart Solutions, which is the largest home-grown BPO entity in the region.

 

Principal of the institution, Dr. Dosseth Edwards-Watson, says one of the most exciting aspects of the venture is the work-study initiative, which gives students who meet specific criteria, the opportunity to engage in a study and earn programme.

 

The Principal was speaking at a media launch of the training initiative, on October 11, at the TTPC.

 

“We are totally grateful to iTEL, as we have some youngsters who are raring to go. There is such a wealth of talent in Trench Town,” Dr. Edwards-Watson said.

 

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for South St. Andrew, Mark Golding, told the gathering that he is pleased with the partnership to offer the training, and that young people should be encouraged “to get involved and take advantage of this training and education.”

 

“We are executing a good idea which will benefit both sides in the partnership, and everybody should make this work, because outsourcing is an important part of the economy, and Jamaica has a competitive edge in the sector,” Mr. Golding said.

 

For her part, Regional Director at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Kasan Troupe, said with the training being offered, the “Brand Trench Town is going to be lifted even higher.”

 

“Young people, you are being given this opportunity, take it seriously,” Dr. Troupe urged, while pledging the Ministry’s support for the continued development of the college.

 

Chairman of the institution, Dr. Joan Spencer-Ernandez, said the college is a winner, and lauded iTELBPO Smart Solutions, for “demonstrating confidence in our ability to effectively deliver this programme, and in our students to be successful as they take on this challenge.”

 

Head of Training at the BPO company, Shurland Buchanan, noted that their commitment is to “train and nurture these future graduates.”

 

Located at Eighth Street at the site of the former Trench Town High School, the multi-disciplinary community college provides a holistic curriculum that is designed to give students a competitive edge.

 

CAPTION: Regional Director at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr. Kasan Troupe (third left) and Member of Parliament for South St. Andrew, Mark Golding (second left), cut the ribbon to officially open the iTELBPO Smart Academy, at the Trench Town Polytechnic College (TTPC), on October 11. Principal of the College, Dr. Dosseth Edwards-Watson, is at left. At right is Head of Training at iTELBPO Smart Solutions, Shurland Buchanan.

JIS: Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, says students are showing signs of improvement since the implementation of the new model that will prepare them for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).

 

“What we are seeing is… since the curriculum now calls for that individualised attention, a lot of our children are doing a lot better. A lot of our children are now more engaged, especially because it calls for that sort of hands-on approach to learning,” he said.

 

Mr. Green was speaking at The Mico University College Care Centre’s 7th Biennial Education Conference at Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on Thursday (October 11).

 

PEP, which has replaced GSAT as the national secondary-school entrance examination, 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, Ability Task and a Curriculum-Based Test.

 

Grade-six students will sit the Performance Task aspect of PEP in March 2019, while the Ability Test and Curriculum-Based Test components will be conducted in February 2019 and April 2019, respectively.

 

The PEP grades will be made available to schools in the third week of June every year.

 

Meanwhile, Mr. Green assured that children with special needs will be adequately accommodated for the assessment.

 

He noted that “all the systems that we had in place to cater to them for [the Grade Six Achievement Test] GSAT, will be in place to cater to them in relation to PEP”.

 

“We have systems that will give our exams in braille for children who can’t see. Our children who have difficulty in relation to speech, we have persons that we provide to work with them for the exam. For those who can’t speak English, we provide translators, things of that nature, so our children with disability will not be disadvantaged in relation to our PEP,” he said.

 

During the last sitting of GSAT, 315 students with special needs were registered to do the examination – 166 in region one; 13 in region two; four in region three; 20 in region four; 33 in region five; and 79 in region six.

 

CAPTION: Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green (centre) exchanges greetings with President, The Mico University College, Dr. Ashburn Pinnock (right), at Mico Care Centre’s 7th Biennial Education Conference at Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston on Thursday (October 11). Sharing in the moment is Board Chairman, The Mico University College, Professor Neville Ying.

JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, in collaboration with the Office of the Cabinet, has launched the Records and Information Management (RIM) Policy Implementation and Sensitisation Programme, geared towards ensuring that all activities and decisions of the Government are fully and accurately documented, managed and monitored.

 

The policy will govern records and information management across all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the Government.

 

Implementation of the RIM policy will facilitate accessible, efficient and effective service delivery to the citizenry; data sharing across MDAs;  ease of doing business, research and attraction of investments; increased transparency and accountability through the creation, processing, maintenance, use and disposition of records in conformity with local policies, standards and international good practice; preservation of national and cultural identity; leveraging cultural assets; informing the citizenry; and the overall attainment of national development goals.

 

At the launch, held on October 4 at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, said the RIM policy is transformational and will help with the storage of important records.

 

“Our reality today, in the digital age, is that every small unit has its own de facto registry, and each computer is host to volumes of official records, be it emails or documents, which are saved and stored, often in an unstructured way,” the Minister said.

 

“While this experience is not at all unique to Jamaica, we accept that without a robust RIM system which provides ready access to relevant and historical documents and which evidences our work, we cannot truly offer to the people of Jamaica good governance, sound policy development and decision-making, efficient and effective services or accountability and transparency,” he added.

 

The Minister called on the stakeholders present at the launch, who represented various government MDAs, to ensure that during the implementation there is adherence to managing their digital records in conformity with the prescriptions of the policy, especially with respect to emails, which are official records.

 

Senator Reid also thanked members of the Cabinet Office for their effort, which is contributing to the success of the Public Sector Transformation and Modernisation (PSTM) Programme.

 

Meanwhile, Director General, PSTM Programme, Office of the Cabinet, Veniece Pottinger-Scott, shared about the RIM policy.

 

“Implementation of the RIM programme originated within the overall work of the Public Sector Transformation and Modernisation Programme at the Cabinet Office, and is regarded as one of the major initiatives aimed at driving public-sector efficiency and enhancing the ease of doing business,” Mrs. Pottinger-Scott said.

 

“It is aligned with Jamaica’s economic growth priorities articulated in the Vision 2030 – National Development Plan. It seeks to address systemic issues that significantly affect public-sector performance, [with] information management being one of them; and records. As such, it is prioritised that the improvement of the quality of government data and the strengthening of information sharing across government, must be our priority,” she added.

 

Copies of the Government of Jamaica Records and Information Management Policy were also presented at the launch to Permanent Secretaries and Directors of Documentation, Information and Access Services in the various ministries.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left), listens to Director General, Public Sector Transformation and Modernisation Programme, Office of the Cabinet, Veniece Pottinger-Scott, at the launch of the Records and Information Management (RIM) Policy Implementation and Sensitisation Programme on Thursday (October 4) at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Education, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid has reiterated that in about five years, students sitting Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) subjects will do some aspects of their examinations online.

 

“They’re already doing marking online, and all CXC exams are likely, within the next five years, to be online,” Senator Reid said, as he addressed a Teacher Sensitisation and Consultation Session for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), held at the Old Harbour New Testament Church in St. Catherine on Tuesday (October 2).

 

He said the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information is positioning itself to support this new approach, through the National Standards Curriculum.

 

“A lot of the things that we are doing, even the National Standards Curriculum, will have to incorporate online teaching and learning, so all of us have to now get with the technology and prepare ourselves to navigate in this 21st century and beyond,” Minister Reid said.

 

He added that like CXC with new technology, the Ministry makes adjustments to its curriculum to meet the new standards set regarding subjects, papers, syllabuses and sample items.

 

At a press conference to launch the CXC Learning Hub, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on May 10, the Minister said that students would soon be required to take some aspects of their examinations online, as part of the Hub.

 

Through the Hub, students now have increased access to CXC material as well as resources produced by the examination body’s external partners.

 

In welcoming the move by CXC at that event, he said with the advancement of technology, it is only fitting for Jamaica’s education system to start testing the use of online examinations for students exiting the secondary level.

 

The Minister said online testing for CXC will now include audiovisuals, videos and animations in multiple-choice tests, which provide a particularly attractive option and will help students to perform better in external examinations.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left), speaking to teachers and principals at a Teacher Sensitisation and Consultation Session, held on Tuesday (October 2) at the Old Harbour New Testament Church in St. Catherine.

JIS: The Performance Task aspect of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), previously scheduled for December, has been pushed back to March 2019.

 

The Ability Test and Curriculum-Based Test components will be conducted in February 2019 and April 2019, respectively, as previously scheduled.

 

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, made the disclosure during a press briefing at his offices in Kingston on Wednesday (October 3)“That will allow us to grade and provide scores and placement of our students on schedule for June 2019,” he said.

 

He informed that the change was based on the recommendation of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) for an adjustment in the PEP schedule.

 

“The next round of discussions will be held with Board chairs and vice chairs, principals, vice principals and bursars, to make sure that at the leadership level they are all cognisant of what we are doing for PEP and other policies. This will then complete the circle of educators’ discussions with me,” he said.

 

Senator Reid said that coming out of consultations with other stakeholders, such as the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica and the Book Industry of Jamaica, “other changes were taken on board in the best interest of the children”.

 

These include that students will have an option to choose for the Performance Task; teacher-engagement activity will be provided at least one month before the actual assessment is to be done; questions will be organised in such a way as to prevent students from having to flip the paper several times; a national committee will be formed to review test items; removal of teachers’ names from the individual students’ reports; and teachers will also be involved in the marking of papers and the development of test items.

 

“I am very pleased with the feedback and support we have been getting from all our stakeholders, and we intend to continue to listen and make adjustments where necessary and in keeping with the best interest of our children,” Senator Reid said.

 

He said that the Ministry will be continuing the weekend PEP camps for students, teachers and parents as well as teachers’ sensitisation sessions across the island.

 

He noted that over the last eight weeks, the Ministry has distributed a suite of materials to schools across the island, including practice items, registration manuals and sample test booklets.

 

“The final set of key resources will be the official practice booklets and answers for both teachers and students, for which distribution will begin this week,” he indicated.

 

Senator Reid noted that the PEP website should be fully operational by Friday of this week, adding that a PEP software application will be available in another two weeks.

 

Meanwhile, he said Performance Task mock results for grade five have been distributed to schools. The mock test was conducted in June to assess the readiness of students for PEP.

 

Overall, the results showed that 83 per cent of the students met or nearly met the standards for English Language; 48 per cent met or nearly met the standard for Mathematics; 52 per cent met or nearly met the standard for Social Studies; and 22 per cent met or nearly met the standard for Science.

 

He said additional resources, such as specialist teachers, will be utilised to improve the results for Science.

 

“The mock showed that greater support will have to be provided for teachers in the areas of drawing conclusions and taking informed actions, as well as gathering and evaluating sources, which were two of the areas assessed in the mock exam,” he said.

 

He said the Ministry is pleased with the responses of the students and the effort that was made by teachers to understand and administer the assessment.

 

“The signs are encouraging, and we now have tangible data to move forward,” he said.

 

Senator Reid informed that the Ministry will continue to fine-tune the preparations for the administration of PEP, through extensive engagement with teachers, parents and other stakeholders.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left), engages with Minister of State, Hon. Floyd Green, just before the start of a press conference at the Ministry’s National Heroes Circle offices in Kingston on October 3.