LITERACY SOS

Pembroke Hall High School Principal Reverend Claude Ellis is calling on the Government to redirect its resources into the primary and early childhood sectors to address educational gaps being identified in students at the secondary level.

Ellis, whose school receives students reading several levels below grade seven, said if this is not done, some high schools may continue to function as remedial centres.

“Let us, as a nation , put more money in the primary, and I don’t have a problem getting less money. Not that I getting a whole heap here. I can always use more. But if you use enough of the money there to ensure that the students get to me at a place where they are functioning at the grade seven level, it makes my job easier,” he said.

Pembroke Hall High made headlines last June after Ellis disclosed that more than 70 per cent of grade seven students who entered the school were reading at the grade three level. He said some were also not able to identify letters.

The school has since seen improvements in literacy after implementing several programmes.

“So my thing is let’s concentrate on the early childhood and primary levels. Let’s put some resources there to ensure that when they get to high school, they are at a place where they can function as high school students.

“They are already thinking like high school students, and so what we need is for them to function in that manner,” said Ellis.

His call was backed by Linvern Wright, president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, who said the money allocated to high schools by the Ministry of Education cannot cover the remedial work needed to help students who leave primary school functioning below grade level.

He pointed to the Reform of Education in Jamaica report produced by the Professor Orlando Patterson-chaired Jamaica Education Transformation Commission, noting that it recommended special emphasis on early childhood education.

One of eight recommendations made by the commission was to ensure adequate financing of the early childhood sector.

“If necessary, reallocate funds from other levels of the education system, as recommended by the World Bank, this being the foundational level of the entire system,” the 2021 report said.

It said specific areas of financing include provision of trained teachers for each institution, teacher training, investment in teaching and learning resources at institutions, investment in support services for children with disabilities, and investment in improving efficiency of the Early Childhood Commission.

“Every single one of us knows that if it is that we spent the money and the resources at the primary and the early childhood level then you would get rid of the problem early,” said Wright.

“You can’t give a primary school $300 per month, which is $3,000 per annum – that’s 10 months for the school year – and expect anything in terms of literacy. The primary school principals and teachers have to be spending time raising funds to deal with literacy, to deal with many of the other little social problems that they’ll have in the school. Three hundred dollars per student for operational expenses is a disgrace,” he said.

Wright, the principal of William Knibb Memorial High School, said Ellis’s call is an empathetic one that colleagues readily understood.

“We understand what it takes to get a child who, for example, has been through trauma and has a weak literacy background. It takes significant resources in terms of money and expertise to get those children to where they ought to be, for readiness for literacy, and then to get them literate in terms of the kinds of intervention that you want. It takes money,” he said.

He said that while enough resources are not being allocated to high schools, more of the resources are needed at the earlier levels.

“I totally agree with Reverend Ellis that really what is needed is more resources being pumped into the primary schools and the early childhood sector,” Wright said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com