Numeracy, literacy to be pepped up at grade-6 level next year
Published:Saturday | June 21, 2025 | 12:09 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Students sitting the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination next year will be tested on numeracy and literacy at the grade-six level, Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, minister of education, skills, youth and information, has announced.
The evaluation would usually be conducted at grade four, but Morris Dixon said there is value in adding this component to the final level as well.
“Next year, we will be able to give you data on the percentage [that] are considered literate. Because some of them in the developing category, it is not like they are not literate and so we need to be able to tease that out, and give Jamaica data that they will use,” she said.
A total of 33,462 students registered across 964 institutions sat the examinations for the 2024-2025 academic year.
However, only two per cent of students received highly proficient scores in language arts, while seven per cent were highly proficient in mathematics.
However, the numbers were higher in the second tier of performance – proficient.
In mathematics, 56 per cent of students achieved proficiency, while 67 per cent were proficient in language arts.
In science, 61 per cent of students were proficient, while 58 per cent achieved proficiency in social studies.
STATISTICS
In 2024, 14 per cent of students received highly proficient scores in social studies and Science, while six per cent and five per cent were highly proficient in language arts and mathematics, respectively. However, students achieved a proficiency rate of 55 per cent and more in all subjects.
PEP is designed to measure students’ attainment of the objectives outlined in the National Standards Curriculum over a three-year period. The national minimum proficiency target is 85 per cent by 2030.
While applauding the students’ performance, Morris Dixon noted that this cohort faced disadvantages due to disruptions in teaching and learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These are a special group, and so when you look at the results, you’re even happier, because you know what these children have been through. We know the psychosocial challenges they have had to endure, and they’ve still risen to the occasion,” she said.
She emphasised that this cohort has steadily progressed over the three years.
In grade four, 25 per cent of them were at the beginner level in mathematics, Morris Dixon stated. However, when they matriculated to grade six, only three per cent were at this level. Additionally, at grade four, just 27 per cent were deemed proficient. This increased to 56 per cent by the time they got to grade six.
Similarly, for language arts at the grade-four level, 33.9 per cent of the students were at the beginning stage. However, by grade six, this dropped to eight per cent. Their proficiency level in this subject also improved; from 34.4 per cent in grade four, to 67 per cent in grade six.
“Those are some encouraging numbers. Are they where we want to be? No, we have more work to do, but what it says is that the interventions, the work being done by the schools, are paying off,” Morris Dixon said.
She added: “We’re seeing progress being made. Which means that what we’re doing is right. We just have to intensify it and do more of it.”
The minister also highlighted that 89.5 per cent of students who sat the exam were placed in one of their preferred schools.
Meanwhile, 563 students were granted special accommodations to sit the exam. This included extra time, readers or writers, and interpreters-10 for Spanish and Mandarin.
A total of 292 students were absent from the examinations, a decline of 25 per cent when compared with last year. The main reasons for absenteeism were listed as migration and grade repetition.
The top 10 performers in the PEP exams will be attending Ardenne High School, Decarteret College, Immaculate Conception High, Herbert Morrison Technical High School, Campion College, and St Andrew High School for Girls in September.