FOR generations there has been a terrible fear of mathematics among Jamaican students.

Bad as that has always been, what has been even worse is the strong feeling among many that aspects of maths, such as algebra and geometry, bear no relevance to their everyday lives.

It’s been long established that serious flaws in the teaching of mathematics contributed to the problems.

In 2012, months after taking office, Education Minister Mr Ronald Thwaites publicly identified what he perceived to be the root cause. Only 16 per cent of mathematics teachers were actually qualified to teach the subject, he said.

As it turned out, a 2011 Ministry of Education census had shown that only nine per cent of maths teachers at the secondary level were qualified to teach the subject to grade 11, while 40 per cent of the teachers at the secondary level were unqualified in mathematics.

Thirty-nine per cent of teachers at the primary level had no secondary mathematics certification.

It’s to the credit of Mr Thwaites and staff around him at the Ministry of Education that they did not merely talk, but moved quickly to take corrective action.

An intense programme to upgrade mathematics teachers at all levels followed.

As explained by Mr Thwaites in August 2013: “The central objective of the programme is to ensure that persons engaging our children in the teaching and learning of the content are most effective.”

Two years on, it appears the programme is bearing rich dividends. We are told that the 2015 results for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level in government-run high schools showed that 62 per cent of the 23,639 students who sat mathematics got a passing grade.

That’s an increase of 6.5 percentage points over last year’s 55.5 per cent pass rate, and 20 percentage points above the 2013 results. That’s good going.

However, there can be no room for complacency. We note that the Ministry of Education has also announced that the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) sat by sixth form students showed significant percentage declines in pure mathematics, applied mathematics, geometrical and electrical drawing as well as electrical and electronic technology.

More to the point, perhaps, at the CSEC level there were declines in several science subjects and the pass rate in English declined by 1.4 per cent.

Obviously there is much to be done. We hear that as part of the ongoing drive to upgrade teachers, the Ministry of Education will be providing 100 scholarships and bursaries to teacher trainees specialising in mathematics and science subject areas.

To Jamaica’s dedicated teachers, to Mr Thwaites, his staff, and all those involved in the drive to lift the nation’s children and young people, we say: Keep going.