ACCESS Financial Services (AFS) last Friday pumped $3.2 million into the education ministry’s literacy programme in primary schools in Manchester and St Elizabeth, saying that it will contribute to shaping young minds.

The money will be used to fund the printing and distribution of literacy books for 165 primary schools in the two parishes.

“Today we unveil access for a brighter tomorrow,” AFS Chief Executive Officer Hugh Campbell said as he presented the cheque at the Ministry of Education in Kingston.

“The initiative will provide resources to improve literary skills, promote lifelong learning, and help children build a foundation for success in their academic and professional journeys. We see this as a direct contribution to shaping the young minds of Jamaica,” Campbell said.

The donation was welcomed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Dr Kasan Troupe, who said it is important because of the literacy challenges at some schools.

“If you are following the data, we have a number of our children who are moving to high school who are not literate and so it becomes very difficult at the high school [level] for the teachers and principals to implement the National Standards Curriculum because they have to treat remedial things,” Troupe said.

She said the ministry is focusing on early literacy and looking at ways to have students better transition from infant to basic school, to primary school.

“We are going to be assessing that this year and we are going to know from early who has challenges with delayed literacy, and their readiness for numeracy, and we are going to be customising for that. Part of customising is to make sure that literacy support materials are in our schools,” Troupe said.

She stated that the nation had achieved a target of 85 per cent literacy but suggested that progress had begun to erode

“We achieved our target — our massive target of 85 per cent nationally — and I think we probably thought that we got it, not remembering that every cohort is different. You may have achieved the literacy rate for a particular cohort of 85 per cent but the cohort behind that has to be attended to as well,” she said.

“We have really realised that it is constant work and so that is now embedded in our framework this year, and you will see literacy support at grade one, grade two, and grade three. We are actually buying resources for those literacy grades. We are putting numeracy materials there too,” Troupe said, pointing to the challenge students are having with math.

She stated that at some point remedial work will have to be done with grades four and five but, going forward, the ministry does not want to see children who are not able to read and write moving beyond grade four.

“That is a major focus for us, and so we are really grateful for this kind of support,” she said.

Campbell commended the ministry for the work it has been doing to improve education outcomes in Jamaica.

He said that education is perhaps the most important and sustainable driver of growth and national development, arguing that when people are empowered with education there is no stopping them.

The AFS boss pledged continued partnership with the education ministry in creating a brighter tomorrow for children and the nation.

— Billeane Williams