By Petrina Francis, Education ReporterTHE MINISTRY of Education will be implementing a strategic intervention programme focusing on mathematics and English language starting this September.
This as a result of the poor performance of students in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)-administered exams over the years.
Sixty-two secondary and five technical schools will be targeted. Those selected, according to the Ministry, must have at least 40 per cent of the subject entries obtaining grade four in 2003 exams, and who have entered less than 20 students for the subjects.
Dorett Campbell, director of communications at the Ministry of Education, said the programme was devised following the "findings of internal evaluations which made us realise that the system needs intervention.
"The major reason for this endeavour is to make the system as equitable as possible because we realise that there are gaps in terms of equity."
BOOST FOR CXC PASSES
A three-year programme of intervention is planned with the objective of achieving a five per cent increase in the number of students passing English language and mathematics at the CXC level nationally. At the end of the programme, the Ministry hopes to see an improvement in Jamaica's position in CXC passes.
There are several aspects to the programme, including a special needs component in which a programme of remedial teaching will be established. Additionally, there will be programmes to support children experiencing difficulties and a planned procedure for evaluating student learning. Infor-mation and communication technologies will be used to enhance the students' learning and there will be training programmes that will enhance teachers' competence in the delivery of the relevant subject matter.
The Ministry of Education said that the proposal for improved students' performance at the secondary level will involve a change in the approach to supervision. A team consisting of education officers, master teachers and heads of departments will monitor the process.
