KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Education Minister, Rev Ronald Thwaites, has committed to look into addressing the needs of the Denham Town High, including improving the technical and vocational capacities of the institution.

He said that the ministry wants to make an example of the downtown Kingston-based school, as one that is able to transform lives.

“You have difficult circumstances given the students you have and the environment in which they operate but we want to make sure that you are equipped …and show that it is possible to move persons, who come with limitations, into positions of strength,” he said.

The education minister was addressing staff during a visit to the school on Thursday, where he commended them on the various interventions undertaken to assist students in the areas of literacy and numeracy.

The support, which includes increasing the number of contact sessions provided for remedial lessons, has resulted in significant improvement in passes in Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate mathematics. The pass rate moved from 13 per cent in 2014 to 73 per cent this year.

Thwaites, in hailing the improvement, said “it makes no sense advancing people from one grade to the next, if they have not achieved the levels needed or the requisite skills”.

He said he is “especially proud” that the institution has admitted 300 students from the Grade Nine Achievement Test, who have particular challenges in literacy and numeracy.

He noted that once the needs of the school are addressed, which he acknowledged, are “quite modest,” then the staff will be in an even better position to address the needs of the students.

“Nobody must leave Denham Town without being able to read and to do basic numeracy,” Thwaites said.