Readers’ reactions

Pembroke Hall High faces literacy crisis

This is sad. It’s not the children’s fault. It’s a broken education system, lack of resources, societal impact, pedagogy and curriculum still under-graded by teacher centric instead of learner centred approaches. Hope this report will result in support for the school. – @DrAnnLopez

If we’re talking about grade 7 students then Pembroke High is not the problem. The real problem is with the schools these students are coming from. The MOEY places students at the high school based on PEP scores yet they’ve done little to address the issues at the primary level. – @A_Dat_Now

Some schools are given straw baskets to carry water, yet at the end of the cycle, we compare their results to privileged schools. Our school system is nothing short of educational apartheid. Our whole school structure needs a massive overhaul. Piecemeal changes won’t do. – @Boydsnr

A child’s literacy is the responsibility of both the school and parents/guardians but reading must start early. At what point before high school were students’ reading levels assessed and what interventions, if any, were implemented by the school/ministry? – @ChrisCSmithson

Why are children being moved from grade to grade when they can’t read and write? At some point it makes sense to just remove the grade number and just put them in a continuing learning class. – @happy_jamaican

Parents have a role in children’s outcomes. - @OnPointPress_

Every ounce of blame should be placed on the parents. - @amoybejeweled

People love to blame parents but students are in school for six to eight hours a day. The teachers and school administrators need to do something as well. – @pkayeJ_

Are we sure some of these students don’t have cognitive/learning impairments that were missed? A lot of kids with dyslexia and on the spectrum are brushed off as “slow” or “dunce” due to ignorance. – @un_influenced

My two cents: If a school leaving exam allows for students to matriculate into high school without being functionally literate, then something is wrong with that exam; Some children live far from their schools, and are sleep deprived. Zoning them isn’t a terrible idea. – @whatapelempem

How did they get all the way to high school and not be able to read? Why push them through the system, just because, and not help them? Also, where are the parents? Basic reading should start at home. – @WenzStiffler

Readers’ reactions sourced from The Gleaner’s X, formerly Twitter, page. Compiled by Khanique McDaniel