Schools preparing for exit exams despite lower-than-expected face-to-face attendance

 

The Ministry of Education says primary and secondary schools are continuing to prepare students for school leaving examinations despite attendance levels for face-to-face classes being below expectation.

 

In an interview with Radio Jamaica News on Thursday, Education Minister Fayval Williams, without giving figures, said more students were returning to face-to-face school each week.

 

Mrs Williams said the Ministry of Education, through schools, has been reaching out to parents to encourage them to send out their children.

 

The minister noted that no decision has been made whether to push back the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams which usually get under way in February.

 

"We're looking at all our school leaving exams to see, in light of where we are in the pandemic, what we should be doing. We're not there yet. We're doing all the consultations and as soon as we're at that point, we will make that announcement," Mrs Williams said.  

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the administering of the PEP exams for the last two years, resulting in adjustments to dates and the format.

 

There has been no indication from the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) that sittings of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) papers will be delayed as schools across the region experience disruptions due to the pandemic.

 

Yard to Yard initiative                        

 

The Ministry of Education, in the meantime, has been gathering data on the 

students who have not attended classes since the pandemic.

 

The programme dubbed the Yard to Yard Finding the Child Initiative was implemented recently.

 

Education Minister Fayval Williams said other ministries have been brought on board to assist those students and their families who have been located. 

 

"We're getting good reception. Obviously, we want the data to come to us so that we will know the magnitude of what it is that we're dealing with. We plan to work with other ministries that can help us because sometimes I know we might go into homes and we find out it's because there's no uniform, there's no lunch money, whatever. But we want to have that information. We don't just want to be reporting that our students are not coming; we want to be proactive," she insisted.