EIGHTY-six point five per cent of the country’s 10-year-olds have been certified literate, but only 65.7 per cent are considered numerate, according to the Grade Four Literacy Test (G4LT) and the General Achievement in Numeracy (GAIN) which were taken on June 30 and July 1 this year.

In announcing the results Thursday, the Ministry of Education said the literacy figures are worth celebrating since they exceed the targeted 85 per cent by 2015, which Government had set as part of its development agenda in tandem with the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

“While there has been a steady increase in the percentage of grade four students achieving mastery of literacy during the 14-year period prior to this year, the change in mastery jumped 9.1 percentage points between 2014 and 2015,” Education Minister Ronald Thwaites told members of the media, high-ranking officers of the ministry, and officers of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association at a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister.

“It is a happy and hopeful result,” he added.

Also worth celebrating, Thwaites said, was the fact that “boys have narrowed the usual two-digit gap between their performance and that of the girls”, with 80.3 per cent of them achieving mastery, compared to 92.5 per cent of girls. Last year those figures were 68.3 per cent and 86.3 per cent, respectively.

“Children, wow! You are beginning to show us that you are scholars indeed,” the minister continued.

He also praised teachers at both the primary and secondary levels for their efforts in adding value to the education system.

On the matter of the numeracy results, the ministry said while this year’s figures are encouraging, there is a lot of ground left to cover.

“The results indicate significant improvement of 8.1 percentage points above the previous year’s average of 57.6 per cent. We have revised the date to achieve 85 per cent mastery to 2018,” Thwaites said.

“It is clear from these results that we are on our way and we can do it,” he added.

The ministry credited the improved grades to a raft of factors, not least of which were “students who took their studies seriously and applied themselves; and the army of teachers and principals that went beyond the call of duty”.

Other strategies he listed included the introduction of a literacy and numeracy mock exam, the deployment of literacy and numeracy coaches and specialists, training of principals and their grade 3 and 4 teachers in data analysis, small-group remediation programmes, support in lesson planning, and the distribution of additional maths and reading resources.

A total of 38,700 students took the literacy test for the first time this year, while some 14,000 repeated. On the numeracy side, 39,534 students sat the exam.

The literacy test has three sections: Word recognition, which is marked out of 40 points; reading comprehension, which is marked out of 30 points; and writing, which is scored out of eight points. Some 10.7 per cent of this year’s candidates achieved ‘almost mastery’, which means they mastered one or two of the sections. The remaining 2.7 per cent are at ‘non-mastery’, which means they did not master any of the sub-tests. Students who failed to achieve mastery have three opportunities to resit the test.

GAIN also has three components: Number operation and number representation, marked out of 30 points; measurement and geometry, marked out of 18; and algebra and statistics, marked out of 12. A total 17.9 per cent mastered one or two of the sections, while 16.4 per cent did not master any.

“The real import of the grade four literacy and numeracy test result is that the near 40,000 students in the age cohort across public and private schools are now equipped to advance up the education ladder. In two years they will be sitting the Grade Six Achievement Test then moving on to high school,” Thwaites said yesterday.