The Editor, Sir:

I think we have been plagued with a high pupil-teacher ratio at the primary level for too long. If we continue to sit around and wait for these schools to adequately house our teachers, the children and the nation will continue to suffer.

Large numbers of our teachers will continue to be stressed, mainly because of overcrowded classrooms, many children will continue to be left by the wayside because of lack of proper teaching, and the failures from the primary system will continue to be a significant contribution to crime.

Here are two suggestions to help overcrowding at the primary level.

1. Pay strict attention to the zoning system.

2. Embark on a shift system.

I think that the zoning system has been well worked out by the Ministry of Education, but lacks proper implementation. The ministry should make a serious and deliberate attempt to have this system fully implemented by the end of 2008-2009 school year.

The shift system that has been suggested would take the following format.

(a) The first shift would operate from 7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. daily.

(b) The second shift would operate from 1 p.m. until 4:45 p.m. daily. It will also operate for four weeks during the summer and five days during the Christmas and Easter break. Maybe Jamaicans living abroad, along with the local private sector, could be approached to held fund the Special Holiday Shift Programme.

I am, etc.,

Hugh A. Blair

21 Pilt Street

Falmouth PO

Trelawny