MARCUS Garvey Technical High School in St Ann’s Bay is expecting to reap the rewards from calculated changes that have come on stream for the school after it was last year dubbed a failing institution.

Principal Leslie Riley told Career & Education he was confident the new changes will impact student performance in coming years.

“What is left is for us to now start seeing some results by students performing better in the CXC [Caribbean Examinations Council] exams, and just performing better in their general attitude,” Riley said.

Marcus Garvey was among four schools named by former Education Minister Andrew Holness as failing schools, and singled out for intervention by the ministry. Holy Trinity High in Kingston, Glengoffe High in St Catherine and Balaclava High in St Elizabeth were the other schools.

However, Riley insists his school is challenging the negative outlook and is changing its image.

He said the school will be impacted by the recent change from a shift system to a full-day system, where classes commence at eight in the morning and go up to three in the afternoon.

He said the shift system was identified as one of the main causes of poor performance.

The Ministry of Education identified a facility in Ocho Rios that previously housed Mansfield Heights Primary, which is now being used for their grade seven and eight classes.

Riley said about 860 students are at that facility, while about 1,800 are on the main campus.

“I expect to be having a significant impact in the sense that students will be given more exposure to the various subject areas,” he said, adding that it will create more time for greater focus on and involvement in clubs and societies.

Riley also explained that these changes will lead to the school fulfilling its mandate as a technical high school. He said they have reorganised the main campus so students from grade nine to 11 are locked into a three-year programme in one of two categories — technical or vocational.

“The technical programme is designed for those students who have the aptitude to do Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), while the slower ones are exposed to practical skills,” he said.

“We get the bottom segment of the GNAT [Grade Nine Achievement Test] students, so it stands to reason that they are going to be at a disadvantage. We believe that once they are exposed over the three-year period, they will perform better.”

He said the programme will see all students doing six or seven subjects, one of which is a skill area.

Meanwhile, Riley, who has been principal for 12 years, said the school has employed literacy and numeracy specialists to address deficiencies in those areas. He said these specialists are now measuring the reading levels of students with a view to design special intervention.

Riley said the CSEC pass rate declined significantly in English Language from 44 per cent in 2011 to 12.7 per cent this year. Records from the Ministry of Education reveal that 347 students sat that examination.

Of the 324 who sat the mathematics examination at Marcus Garvey Technical High, 14 students or 4.3 per cent passed the examination.

Unlike Glengoffe High, recently featured in Career & Education, Riley said he has seen where the ministry has intervened in the school.

Glengoffe Principal George Price complained that his school had not received any form of intervention from the ministry, except that they were provided with two tents but no furniture.

However, Riley said he has seen the Government make a decisive move towards helping Marcus Garvey, through the provision of the additional facility, as well as the recent launch of the Marcus Garvey and civics courses at the school.

He said these have served to boost the image of the school.

Also, for this school year, a Marcus Garvey Entrepreneurial Centre was opened, which invites community vendors to partner with the school to provide lunch for students.

The Marcus Garvey Self- Reliance Centre also allows students to be involved in tutorial farming, including the rearing of pigs, chickens and rabbits, as well as egg and vegetable production.

There is also a Marcus Garvey Resource Centre, which includes a library and a gallery of artefacts and images relating to the national hero.