In the classroom, six days a week…Region Four’s 36 volunteer educators rally students after Melissa – and the results are in

WESTERN BUREAU:

They started with mathematics.

Then students wanted Spanish, English, science, information technology and social studies. Soon, four weekdays were not enough.

“Miss, we’re ready,” they told their educators.

Saturday was added. Then Sunday.

What began as a targeted intervention in mathematics grew into a six-day-a-week online enhancement programme powered by 36 volunteer teachers and education officers in the Ministry of Education’s Region Four, as educators scrambled to keep students learning after Hurricane Melissa severely disrupted schools across western Jamaica.

Nobody wanted to be paid. And when the June 2026 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) results began arriving earlier this week, Regional Director Dr Michelle Pinnock said she waited for them with the anxiety of a parent.

“It was like my own little children,” she told The Gleaner. “I couldn’t wait for Tuesday to come to just start seeing the results coming through.”

The programme, which also extended to students preparing for PEP, was built around data.

Pinnock said Region Four had been studying examination reports and PEP results and knew mathematics was a major weakness.

“We knew math was our issue,” she said.

Officials initially sought four mathematics teachers willing to help. The volunteers came, and the programme began expanding. Modern languages joined, followed by English language and science. Pinnock herself logged on to teach biology, tailoring topics so students could understand their relevance across agricultural science, human and social biology and integrated science.

Education Officer Dr Shamara Brissett led Spanish sessions, including weekend classes and “Spanish Mondays”, while other teachers assisted students in breakout rooms.

VOLUNTARY SESSIONS

Mathematics Wednesdays included Richard James and other teachers who volunteered to help students grasp concepts that had proved difficult in conventional classrooms.

Brissett said the programme eventually involved 36 educators, including herself, Pinnock, other education officers and teachers from across the region.

It was the students, Pinnock said, who pushed the programme beyond what its organisers had envisioned. After mathematics, languages and science came requests for other subjects.

“They’re saying, ‘Miss, what about IT? When we going to social studies?’” she recalled.

With much of the working week already occupied, educators initially questioned where additional sessions could fit.

The students supplied the answer.

“They said, ‘No, Miss, we’re ready, ready, we’re ready’.”

Weekend teaching followed.

“We ended up eventually doing both Saturday and Sunday,” Pinnock said.

For her, the response challenged the notion that young people are unwilling to learn.

“These children only want somebody to believe in them,” she said. “Once they find somebody that believes in them, irrespective of what’s happening around them, they will move to the next level.”

The initiative extended to PEP students and attracted parents as well. Pinnock said participants from as far away as Guyana and Trinidad also logged on to some sessions.

At Hopewell High School in Hanover, Acting Vice-Principal Veta Porter Brown knew an online programme could only work if students had the means to participate.

STRUGGLES AFTER HURRICANE MELISSA

Some families affected by Melissa were struggling with food, transportation and Internet access.

Hopewell responded with a welfare system that provided food, clothing and transportation assistance, while data was purchased for students who could not afford to get online.

Porter Brown monitored participation and followed up when students failed to log on.

Teachers also “adopted” students, sometimes paying examination expenses and helping families with basic needs.

“We don’t think that money should be a factor why students don’t do well,” she said.

Porter Brown pointed to one Grade 10 student who had scored about five per cent on an earlier assessment but attended Pinnock’s programme consistently. The student subsequently earned a distinction and two credits.

At Hopewell, English language recorded a 100 per cent pass rate, according to Porter Brown.

“When I look at their scores, my tears come down because I know how hard we worked with them,” she said.

There were also striking mathematics gains elsewhere in the region.

At Grange Hill High School in Westmoreland, the mathematics pass rate moved from zero per cent last year to 71 per cent this year, according to education officials.

Maud McLeod High, also in Westmoreland, continued a three-year climb in mathematics, from zero per cent two years ago to 35 per cent last year and 43 per cent this year.

Brissett credits the mathematics volunteers, including James, with making a significant contribution to the improvement she has witnessed.

Pinnock said she also made a point of going into schools and teaching alongside educators, including at Petersfield High.

“When you can stand beside the teacher, you’re not just telling the teacher to do something, but you can do it as well,” she said.

For the regional director, the examination results have provided affirmation for an initiative that began with data, depended on unpaid educators and ultimately grew because students themselves refused to stop learning.

At Hopewell, Porter Brown remembers the moment the results arrived more simply. Teachers cried. Then they celebrated.

“We just danced,” she said.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com