KINGSTON, Jamaica – A total of 21,701 students are enrolled in the Sixth-Form Pathways Programme for the current academic year.

Making the disclosure during Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, said that the programme is being offered in 169 high schools and 40 tertiary or post-secondary centres.

“In order to get to these numbers where we are, obviously, we had to do some work. We had 95 regional multi-school parent-teacher association (PTA) sessions islandwide because it is important for us to engage our parents.

“We had 153 special meetings facilitated with grade 11 students in high schools, including independent schools and, of course, re-sensitisation sessions with secondary-school staff. We are off to another great year for our Sixth-Form Pathways,” she said.

Minister Williams said for the 2022/23 academic year, about 43 per cent of students completed some 80 hours of work experience, noting that new cohorts will be similarly engaged.

“We want to commend all those institutions that continue to be onboard. We know our students are engaged very deeply and meaningfully in the Sixth-Form Pathways Programme,” she said.

After being piloted in 2019, the Sixth-Form Pathways or the seven-year high-school programme was launched in September 2020, to allow students to graduate from secondary school with one or more of the following – an occupational associate degree, certificate or a diploma (within an occupational discipline), or an accredited Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ) or University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) Associate Degree.

Students can also graduate with Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) subjects (diploma or certificate) or a CAPE Associate Degree, National Vocational Qualification – Jamaica (NVQJ) and/or Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) at levels two or three.

– JIS