KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dr Grace McLean, says the roll-out of the National School Leaving Certificate will commence in September.

Speaking at a parent sensitisation session on August 16 at Merl Grove High School, in Kingston, she explained that the certificate will provide data on the performance of students over their five years of secondary education, which will take into consideration their academic achievement, co-curricular participation and behaviour.

“We are going to be embarking on a set of consultations (and) sensitisations with a view to issuing the first set of National School Leaving Certificates, which will capture all of the subjects that the students will sit, as well as information relating to their social, cultural and sport involvement at the (secondary) school level,” she noted.

The session, which covered Regions One and Two of the Education Ministry, is the first of several organised by the ministry, with the objectives of informing parents on critical matters relating to educational policy initiatives, and to increase their involvement in their children’s learning.

Additionally, McLean said that the ministry will be moving forward with its three year-plan to remove all schools from the two-shift system.

“We currently have 42 schools on the shift system. Four of these schools will be removed for the 2018/19 school year in Regions Three and Six,” she said.

The chief education officer noted that there is also an infrastructure plan in place to facilitate this.

Twenty-five schools were taken off the shift system during the 2015/16 academic year, including six primary, two all-age, 11 primary and junior high, and six high schools. The shift system was introduced in the 1970s to provide high school access for all children.