Education Minister Satisfied With Start of New School Year.
Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has expressed satisfaction with the start of the 2018/2019 academic year.
In an interview with JIS News on Monday (September 3), after visiting three schools in the Corporate Area – Wolmer’s Boys,’ Excelsior Primary and Infant, and Jessie Ripoll Primary – Minister Reid said that operations were off to a smooth start.
“I am very satisfied with what I’ve seen. I think full commendation should be given to the team [from the Ministry] and school administrators across the island,” he said.
Minister Reid informed that officials from the Ministry in the various regions across the island worked with school administrators to ensure that needs were satisfied and that the institutions had the necessary equipment and tools they required to operate effectively.
“For back-to-school, we actually started working from January on textbooks, repairs and furniture… . I’m very happy to see the schools are all generally ready,” he noted.
Meanwhile, during his visit to the schools, Minister Reid observed operations, including classroom lessons; liaised with the principals, teachers and students; and handed over copies of the National Standards Curriculum (NSC).
The curriculum places focus on project-based and problem-solving learning, with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and arts integrated at all levels.
At Wolmer’s Boys, he encouraged the students to “aim for the highest” and be respectful to their teachers and parents.
“I want to thank the hard-working teachers, because a lot of the outstanding successes that we can celebrate about Wolmer’s is because of the real hard, dedicated and outstanding work of the school’s teachers,” he said.
Minister Reid also spoke with grade-six students at Jessie Ripoll and Excelsior Primary, who will be among the cohort sitting the first Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination next year, and encouraged them not to be fearful of the inaugural series of tests that they will undertake.
“[PEP] is really for us to assess the knowledge and competencies of our students. We need to have a valid assessment, a true reflection of our students’ capacity and ability, and we can build on their strengths and their weaknesses,” he pointed out.
