Separation proves useful
Published:Monday | February 28, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer
LINSTEAD, St Catherine:
ONE NORTHWest St Catherine primary school has been reaping success from strategies employed to boost the performance of male students.
Beverley Johnson, principal of Jericho Primary, told The Gleaner that since the school adopted a gender-centric approach to teaching in 2006, there has been a marked improvement in the performance of targeted students.
"First time when you look at the girls' average, it would probably be in the 50s and the boys in the 40s or 30s. Now the boys are almost on par with the girls. Look at science for example, the boys' average was 51, the girls' was 54, the girls are still forging ahead, but the boys are closing the gap," she said pointing to the 2010 Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) results.
While this approach has been implemented as part of an overall strategy, she indicated that the segregation is only in grades five and six. This, she added has created a more comfortable environment for the boys to participate in class.
"We find that the boys participate more when they are together by themselves, than when they are with the girls. I think the boys feel a little intimidated in that we have some bright girls in the class and they are always shining and the boys feel that if they should give an answer that is not right, the girls may laugh at them," Johnson explained.
However, separation is only one of several approaches being taken to bring about a positive impact on the male population.
"We have things like fathers' PTA (parent-teacher association) meetings, fathers' and sons' day, we have gender worship on a Wednesday where we have all the boys together, all the girls together, we also encourage the boys to participate in JCDC (Jamaica Cultural Development Commission) competitions," said Johnson, principal since 1996.
Of the 709 students on roll, 344 are boys and 12-year-old Ajay Budhai, the head boy, believes grouping the grade-six boys has proved beneficial.
"It's a good idea because when I was in the lower classes with the girls, I was distracted by them, so I feel much better being separated from them because now I can focus on passing my GSAT to go to Kingston College," a smiling Budhai told The Gleaner.
He is one of the 49 boys who Nadine Coley is readying for the exam in March.
"This year, they are grasping the concepts a little slowly ... but I have good workers, 25 per cent is above average, majority is in the middle and about 10 per cent is below, so I'm looking for them to do well," she said.
Having given 39 years to the field of education, her counterpart Norma Flowers, on pre-retirement leave, has opted to volunteer to prepare 47 girls for the exam.
"We are focusing on literacy and numeracy, so in addition to the books that the ministry sends, we have special textbooks, every one of them also has to buy the Children's Own because we use it as a teaching aid. They have to learn their tables and they have to read a lot." She, however, pointed out that even at this critical juncture, a few students were still without textbooks.
Thirty-three of the 94 students who sat the 2010 GSAT were placed at traditional high schools. Taneisha McPherson was the top performer, scoring an 88 per cent average which earned her a place at St Jago.
For the past three years, Jericho Primary School has been performing above the national average in the examination. The institution is ranked second among the 14 primary schools in the Quality Education Circle in the northwest belt of the parish.