Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, is calling for a national push to strengthen literacy at the earliest levels of the education system, as failure to do so could set up students for long-term struggle.

“One of the most painful things for me is to see, especially a young man, in high school who cannot read. It impacts you and it also impacts your own sense of self,” she noted.

Dr. Morris Dixon was speaking at a School Leadership Conference for principals, vice principals and other senior educators from Clarendon, at the Bahia Principe Resort in Runaway Bay, St. Ann, on Tuesday (July 15).

“Our high schools should not be getting children who can’t read or write. The role in the Ministry is for no child to be leaving primary school non-literate,” she emphasised.

She pointed out that the literacy gap begins early and follows students throughout their academic journey.

“When you speak to the secondary-school principals, they’ll tell you, ‘I got them and I had to be remediating them in high school’, and then when you talk to the primary principals, they’ll tell you it came from grade one,” the Minister said.

“We can’t be doing that. That is not where we’re going to get the biggest bang for our buck and get our children to realise their potential. So, we have to start early. The emphasis on early-childhood education; the emphasis on reading at grade one to grade three is critical if we’re going to stem the flow of children throughout the system,” Dr. Morris Dixon said.

The Minister also encouraged collaboration between schools and the Ministry.

“I ask you to really work with us, especially the primary schools. Work with the Ministry. Give them suggestions on what works, what works in your environment, so that others can use it and we can test it and see if it works. Our children deserve this,” she said.