The Government continues to implement special initiatives to enhance mathematics and literacy education, with the aim of improving academic performance in inner-city schools.

Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, who recently toured Higholborn Street Basic, Franklyn Town Primary, St. Michael’s Primary and Holy Family Primary and Infant Schools in Kingston Central, said the National School Learning and Intervention Plan (NSLIP) is critical to this mandate.

“Franklyn Town Primary is one of our NSLIP schools; these are schools we are intervening in significantly. At the end of the day, the success of our education system relies on our teachers and principals. We have excellent leadership and when you see results at a school like this, taking students from 20 per cent to over 50 per cent literacy [with even more strategies to improve this figure]… this is what we need, and all of us have to support this,” she said while addressing journalists during the tour.

The Education Ministry developed the NSLIP to guide curriculum management in schools.

The initiative includes additional teaching time for summer schools and extra lessons/homework programmes, psychosocial and parental engagement, strict attendance monitoring, provision of digital learning resources, a robust accountability framework, and a focus on customised learning based on assessment data.

“I have been able to see our schools working really hard in our inner-city communities. The children are really bright, full of life and brilliant. I saw principals working hard to make sure that they are able to get the maths and literacy training [they need to excel],” the Minister said.

Notably, Dr. Morris Dixon said the special needs programmes she observed at these schools are effectively integrating special needs children into broader academic initiatives.