Dr Kasan Troupe - FILE PHOTO
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Dr Kasan Troupe, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education
The Ministry of Education will be instituting Reading as a timetabled subject at the primary level in light of the concerns about foundational literacy skills.
Two hours of reading per week will timetabled be for students in grades 1 to 3, "rather than an integrated approach," according to Dr Kasan Troupe, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education.
The country's literacy level was one of the issues highlighted in the Report of the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission, chaired by Professor Orlando Patterson, which stated that most students at the primary level are barely literate.
Dr Troupe, addressing the Education Transformation Oversight Committee on Friday, said the efforts to strengthen literacy level will take place over the next few months.
She disclosed that, in preparation for this changed approach, there will be "a massive training programme in this quarter, to build the skill-set of our teachers and retool them..."
She said the aim will be to improve reading for literacy, fluency, vocabulary building, as well as "reading for enjoyment and word recognition."
Dr Troupe also detailed plans to improve literacy for grades 4 to 6, "which will include assessments... special education services, which will mean retooling and also targeted resources..."
The current literacy rate for Jamaica overall is 88 per cent, which is low compared to other countries in the Caribbean, such as Guyana at 98.1 and Barbados at 97 per cent.
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