Summer school for low-per forming GSAT students

The Ministry of Education is implementing a remedial summer school programme. The programme is being developed to assist grade six students who, although shortlisted to attend high school in September, did not perform well in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites, who made the announcement in Montego Bay recently, said the programme is intended to better prepare the students for transition into high school, particularly in the area of mathematics.

He was speaking at a power breakfast at the Hilton Rose Hall Hotel, which formed part of the Sixth Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference.

Thwaites said serious attention will also be placed on grade five students preparing for the GSAT.

"We have to help the grade five students who are in danger of having the same experience as some of their colleagues this year (reduction in the pass rate in mathematics), and make arrangements for them to be remediated, while helping to educate new math teachers, in particular, as we go forward."

Thwaites encouraged members of the local business sector and the Jamaican diaspora, to assist in providing resources to boost the teaching of mathematics.

The minister said while there was a "reasonable arc of performance" in all subjects, the results in mathematics have dropped by four per cent when compared to 2014.

"That is very serious. I call upon all of us, particularly those who are in business and the financial sector, to help us develop a mathematics culture in this country. I call upon those members of the diaspora who have a connection with their own school to see what you can do to help to encourage us to be able to teach math better," Thwaites said.