JTA wants PEP exams postponed until summer

 

The Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) is calling for the Ministry of Education to postpone the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams until the summer term.

 

JTA President-elect Lasonja Harrison told Radio Jamaica News that most students are not ready for the exams.

 

According to Mrs Harrison, a significant number of grade six students who are slated to sit the Ability Assessment component of PEP this month were not engaged in online learning. 

 

"The student performance currently is reflecting that the students did not grasp those content as well as we thought they did, and so coming back into the face to face, we are realising or we have seen the significant gaps that are out there in terms of the learning, the processing, the understanding, the skill sets that are necessary in order for the students to be adequately prepared," she shared. 

 

Mrs Harrison noted that a number of students have also returned to schools without text books. 

 

"Some students still are at school without required or prescribed texts, though ministry would have sent some text to school, or schools would have had in their coffers before. However, we still have some of the workbooks and stuff that students had not purchased because parents and, you know, everyone alike would have been significantly impacted by the current economic situation. So all of those variables are at play," she insisted.  

 

Opposition Spokesperson on Education Dr. Angela Brown Burke had earlier warned that, based on feedback from a number of teachers, the majority of Grade 6 students will not do well in the PEP exams this year.

 

She urged the government to scrap the Performance Task component of the exam.