Student literacy issues a 'national disgrace'

 

The People's National Party (PNP) has expressed concern about the growing literacy crisis in Jamaica's education system. 

 

It follows a report that more than 70 per cent of grade seven students at Pembroke Hall High School are unable to read, or are reading at or below the grade three level.

 

Deputy Opposition Spokesperson on Education and Community Development and MP candidate for South East St. Ann, Dr. Kenneth Russell, described the situation at Pembroke Hall High School as devastating. 

 

Dr. Russell highlighted that similar reports have emerged from Holy Trinity High and other schools across the island.

 

"This is not a Pembroke Hall or Holy Trinity problem. This is a Jamaica problem. What we are confronting is a deep systematic failure to provide students with the foundational skills they need to succeed. This is the result of years of neglect, underinvestment and policy failure by the Andrew Holness-led government, which has been in office for almost ten years. The fact that students are reaching high school unable to identify basic letters of the alphabet is a national disgrace," he insisted. 

 

The deputy opposition spokesperson claimed that while the 2024 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) results show that 67 per cent of students are proficient or highly proficient in Language Arts, this statistic paints a misleading picture. 

 

"The hard truth is that many students are being promoted based on scores, not skills. PEP may be showing numerical gains, but those numbers mean very little if students are unable to read, write or comprehend after completing primary school. The disconnect between the test data and the realities teachers face in the classroom could not be more glaring. If nearly seven in ten students are truly proficient or higher, why are so many high schools receiving cohorts of students who are functionally illiterate?" he questioned.

 

 

Meanwhile, Trisha Williams-Singh, Chairman of the Early Childhood Commission, said Jamaica continues to lag behind due to an inadequate number of specialists to assess children's ability to read and comprehend. 

 

Mrs. Williams-Singh said the Early Childhood Commission has approached the University of the West Indies to find ways to plug the gap.

 

"We met with the principal of UWI because we're seeking their partnership to let us try and fill this gap of where can we tap into the social workers. What's happening up at UWI? Can you also produce more of persons in Jamaica that can assess our children? We are very limited there. So we do have the blueprint to say this is what ought to be done. And then the other big elephant in the room that we have to be honest about is funding," she acknowledged. 

 

Mrs. Williams-Singh was a guest on the Morning Agenda on Power 106 FM.