Region One schools urged not to block students from external exams

Western Bureau:

School administrators in the 45 high schools across the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information’s Region One are being urged to avoid the practice of preventing students whose abilities they doubt from sitting external examinations.

In recent years, school authorities have been accused of blocking students deemed weak from sitting external examinations as a way of protecting their institutions’ image and boosting pass rates.

Speaking at the ministry’s three-day Back-to-School Conference 2026 in Hanover, which brought together chairmen and vice-chairmen of school boards, as well as principals and vice-principals, Ottis Brown, director of regional educational services in Region One, said students should not be shortchanged after spending at least five years in high school.

“Colleagues, don’t you think it is an indictment for children to come into our hands at grade seven, and then they are leaving at grade 11, and they can do no subject or only one subject?” Brown asked after reviewing some of the external examination statistics for Region One.

“We have got to change it; I do not like that type of discrimination.”

Pointing out that school leadership is integral to the changes he believes can benefit all students, including slower learners, Brown said a different approach is needed to help students succeed.

“I know that with good pedagogical approaches, the children can do well,” he said, before citing personal experiences at educational institutions where students, who would normally have been denied the opportunity to sit external examinations, were allowed to do so and performed well.

“Recommend the children to do the examinations. We do not want any more criminals, and education tend to steer them away from the wrong path,” said Brown, noting that success often inspires other students to strive for similar achievements.

“Put away the old spin about ‘I do not want my school to look a certain way’, to recommend only 20 of a batch of 90, when, if you had recommended 90, perhaps 40 or 50 would have passed,” he added.

However, Brown cautioned educators to pay close attention to students registered to sit examinations who are regularly absent from school. He said such cases should be investigated with a view to improving attendance.

With Jamaica having approximately 161 publicly funded high schools, including 45 in Region One, Brown said the region accounts for the largest student population, as well as the largest complement of academic and non-academic staff within the ministry’s portfolio.

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