Basil Jarrett | The boys are back!

LET’S HAVE an honest conversation. For the last few years, when it came to discussions about boys in education, the headlines weren’t exactly flattering. We’ve watched our boys struggle to keep pace in literacy, falter in numeracy, and steadily lose ground to our high-achieving girls. In classrooms across the country, the vibe has been the same: our boys are losing interest, losing ground, and losing the race altogether.

But last week, two extraordinary things happened.

In a single seven-day span, the narrative shifted ever so slightly as hope flickered back to life. And if you were paying attention, you might have felt it too.

Yup. The boys are back!

MATH MEN RISE

The first glimmer came from an unlikely source – the 2025 UWI Jamaican Mathematical Olympiad. Now, math has long been the academic equivalent of bitter medicine for Jamaican students. Hard to swallow, universally dreaded, and often avoided. In fact, in 2024, only 33 per cent of Jamaican students passed CSEC Mathematics. And this isn’t a new phenomenon as I myself have a 3.5 in the subject. Now I know what you’re thinking; “wait, CXC doesn’t offer fractional grades”, and you’d be right. But having taken the darned thing twice with a grade 4 followed by a grade 3, I believe I’m well within my rights to demonstrate my math acumen by calculating the average of the two.

But seriously, something important shifted at this year’s Olympiad. In the senior category, the top 10 students were all boys. Micah Edwards, Jerome Hayles, Austin Johnson, Rohit Mahtami, Jaheim Stewart, Kevaughn Lawrence, Paul Von Tuburg, Sa’eel Harris, Chad Wright and overall champion Jace C. Jarrett stood alone on the platform. And no, that last name isn’t a typo. That is in fact my own son, and while the clear gulf between us in mathematical mastery is as wide as the Grand Canyon, I will continue to claim him as mine – at least until the DNA tests come back.

So yes, you read that right. Last week’s Math Olympiad’s top 10 didn’t have just a sprinkling of boys or a few holding on in the top ranks. Every single one of the top 10 performers in the senior division was male.

And the boys weren’t just making the mark in the fifth form category. Leading the fourth form pack was Tristan Thomas, a student from Munro College, who by his own admission, doesn’t list math as his best subject. According to Tristan, his strength lies in the sciences, but with the support of a committed teacher and the discipline of past paper drills, he rose to the top. Now that’s a story every Jamaican parent should tell their son before bed tonight.

THE QUIZ KINGS

But last week’s testosterone spike didn’t stop there as the entire country was treated to an all-male Battle Royale in the 2025 TVJ Schools’ Challenge Quiz final, where the last two schools standing were Titchfield High and my own alma mater, Jamaica College. Remarkably, Titchfield, though a co-ed institution, fielded four brilliant young men who went on to win the competition in one heck of a final.

In an intense intellectual slugfest, Titchfield edged out JC 26 to 23, sparking motorcades and celebrations in the streets of Port Antonio. Businesses paused, the school band led a triumphant parade, and the community turned out in droves to cheer for their champions. As a JC old boy, I can tell you the exact moment I knew we had lost, and it wasn’t on that incorrect final answer with three seconds to go.

It came during the tense, see-saw buzzer section, when the Titchfield captain and now social media sensation, Alex Anderson, down five points and facing certain defeat, pressed on a French question, thumped his chest and pointed to the heavens before exclaiming loudly, “Fried rice and fish”! Such chutzpah, such bravado, such male-ness – I knew then that we had lost.

The quiz final wasn’t just a win for Titchfield and all of Portland, but a win for every Jamaican boy who’s ever been told he’s not focused enough, not bright enough, not good enough. Because what we saw last week, between the Quiz final and the Math Olympiad, was not just talent. We saw discipline. We saw teamwork. We saw boys showing Jamaica and themselves that academic excellence is not out of their reach.

THE CAUTION BEHIND THE CELEBRATION

But Jamaica, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. While we’re busy patting backs, raising trophies and eating fried rice and fish, we’d be foolish not to see the bigger picture.

Of the top 10 performers in the senior category of the Math Olympiad, eight were from Campion College. Let that marinate for a moment. Campion, once again, proved why it sits atop the academic mountain. Year after year, competition after competition, the Hope Road powerhouse delivers excellence like it’s second nature. And while I’m the first to applaud Campion’s consistency, I can’t help but ask, “what can we learn from them?”

This is where equity enters the chat room.

Our educators need to tap into Campion, study its math curriculum, examine its teacher development strategy, and see if its preparatory systems can be shared, adapted, and scaled. Is it the math club culture? Is it access to resources? Is it early preparation? We need answers. Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: if all our academic stars are coming from one school, then our education system has a distribution problem. Excellence should not be the preserve of Kingston 6.

A PATH FORWARD

So what do we do with this moment?

Well first, we should celebrate it. Loudly. Boys across Jamaica need to see themselves in Tristan Thomas, the Big Boys in the Top 10, the lads from Titchfield and the young kings of JC. These aren’t superheroes from foreign movies. These are boys from Buff Bay, Waterhouse, Cross Roads. They are possibilities, not anomalies.

Second, we must replicate it. Let’s reach out to the teachers behind these successes. Mr Burrell from Munro, the quiz coaches from Titchfield and JC, and yes, the math department at Campion. Let’s ask them what’s working. And what’s not. Let’s fund those methods and give financial support to their teacher training sessions.

And third, we must protect it. Let’s not allow this moment to be a blip. Let’s guard these gains by fixing the systemic issues that keep our boys disengaged. Smaller class sizes, more male mentors, practical applications of subjects like math and science.

This may be the start of a great turnaround folks. Or it could be just a faint blip. Either way, one certain thing right now, is that the boys are back!

Major Basil Jarrett is the director of communications at the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency and is a crisis communications consultant. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Threads @IamBasilJarrett and linkedin.com/in/basiljarrett and send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com