THE Ministry of Education and Youth is to establish student assessment centres throughout its regional offices, in order to expand and improve the quality of psychological assessment services offered to students with disabilities.

Speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on March 21, education officer in the Special Education Unit, Hixwell Douglas, noted that the regional centres would form part of the objectives of the ministry to decentralise its operations, by providing more autonomy to its six regional office across the island.

He said the centres would provide standardised assessment services to schools which might have students with ‘special needs’, particularly those who have intellectual, learning and or behavioural disorders.

“Within the plans for the transformation of the education system, a recommendation has been made to establish regional assessment centres. These centres will undertake the task of ensuring that students go through proper assessments, and that they are identified in their regular school system,” Douglas said.

The recommendation, he added, stems from the fact that a number of students have specific challenges which many times go undiagnosed. As such, he said that children who suffer from these disabilities are sometimes called ‘troublemakers’ or regarded as ‘dunce’.

“For example, a student may be regarded as a troublemaker, but the teacher may not know that this child is suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which really speaks to a chemical imbalance in the system, which is causing the child to behave in a particular way. In those circumstances, the psychological assessment is crucial,” Douglas said. “We are not there yet, but we have made great strides in trying to ensure access and equal opportunities for students with disabilities.”

The regional centres will ensure that children with disabilities are properly assessed and diagnosed.

“I think the transformation process is addressing a number of those issues, and we hope that as we move forward with the decentralisation of special education, we are going to have more persons with the expertise in the different regions, and that our students are going to be catered for in a better way,” he said.

Assistant chief education officer at the Student Assessment Unit Sephlin Myers-Thomas noted that the ministry would also be reviewing its academic assessment process, particularly at the grade one level, in order to better facilitate and accommodate students with ‘special needs’.

“We have been looking at reviewing some of our examinations, and at present we have a consultancy that is looking at the grade one readiness test, and one of the deliverables that must come out, is a recommendation on how to handle children who are challenged in one way or another,” she said.