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Commencing September, the practice of moving students from one grade level to the next, irrespective of academic development, will be discontinued.

The announcement was made by Chairman of the Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC), Adrian Stokes, during Wednesday's (July 23) ETOC Press Conference at Jamaica House.

"Students who are not at the requisite level will be placed on a pathway that allows them to remediate the learning challenges they are experiencing. Individual learning plans will be developed for these students to ensure proper targeting of learning challenges," Stokes explained.

He reasoned that some high schools face a serious challenge, as some students transitioning from primary school are not academically prepared to undertake 10 subjects in grade seven.

"These students, some of them are placed in what is called the pathway three by the Ministry. They require focused attention to correct fundamental issues with literacy and numeracy," he said.

Consequently, Stokes said they will only be required to do six subjects in their first year of high school.

"These students will be taken through a more targeted programme to ensure they are better equipped to pursue a successful secondary school life. It's a very important development," Stokes added.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr the Honorable Dana Morris Dixon, advised that the number of subjects pursued by each student will increase based on their progress.

"They will, over time, as we deal with the literacy and numeracy problems, be exposed to all of the beautiful subjects that are there," Morris Dixon said.

- JIS

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