Education Ministry promises greater push to improve students' math performance

By Halshane Burke   

 

Education Minister Fayval Williams says more effort is to be placed on improving the outcomes for mathematics in external examinations.

 

There was a decrease in the number of students who achieved passing grades in the latest sitting of CSEC Mathematics and English exams when compared with 2023.

 

The Education Minister says 33 per cent of students obtained a passing grade in math.

 

She says the Ministry of Education will have to redouble its efforts, and implement an emergency plan for math to help students. 

 

"That plan will entail us getting more math teachers into our schools. We know that currently we are encouraging persons to go to our teachers' educational institutions to focus on the STEM subjects, which include maths," she outlined, recalling that the Finance Ministry earlier this year announced scholarships at Mico University and committed the scholarship so there can be more STEM teachers. 

 

She was addressing the CAPE/CSEC press conference in Kingston on Monday.

 

Meanwhile, Acting Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education Terry Ann Thomas Gayle said the curricula at teacher training institutions are being revisited to improve the instruction of mathematics.

 

She said its is crucial that teachers are prepared and adequately equipped to instruct students in the subject area.

 

"We will be looking on who it is going to the math programme to ensure that we are attracting the best minds. We will be employing the coaching model throughout all high schools and at the primary level where our coaches within the ministry, they will be giving more hands-on guidance to our teachers and to see your best we can help in bridging that gap with pedagogy and the students' performance."

 

"At the primary level, we will be rolling out the specialist model where our teachers from as early as primary schools will be teaching subject areas, specifically with mathematics. We will continue our effort to interrogate the data to look at the specific cases, what it is would have attributed to the performance at different schools and we will be working with our leaders to ensure that we help them to bridge the gap," she announced.