Dear Editor,

News broke last week that more than 70 per cent of the approximately 220 first-form students of Pembroke Hall High School in Kingston are either unable to read or do so only at a grade-three level.

This revelation has, once again, sparked the usual fake outrage and has provided a platform for the customary blame game to take place.

Why are we shocked? Those of us who attended traditional high schools in Kingston and St Andrew know that, outside of the prestigious and second-tier ones, the others experience serious academic and infrastructural struggles. The education system streams students to go to high school; therefore, it is really not difficult to decipher the low-performing ones.

For decades, many underperforming students have been allowed to move from one grade to the next without meeting the basic matriculation requirements. How are so many of our children allowed to go to high school without even knowing the alphabet?

Were they provided with the requisite scaffolding, resources, diagnoses, specialist interventions, and teaching strategies to attend unto their special needs?

But how would the above-mentioned have been possible if classes are largely overpopulated and teachers are not adequately trained to identify and treat these learning challenges?

It is hard for teachers to give individualised attention to students when many of them have numerous learning and behavioural difficulties.

What systems are in place in our primary schools to ensure that students leave mastering literacy and numeracy? Perhaps children with learning difficulties should not be allowed to concentrate on the full complement of subjects offered and instead focus on reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. If they cannot understand the fundamental elements, how are they going to venture into more complex concepts?

Many are left puzzled that reading as a stand-alone subject was removed from many schools when the language arts curriculum was introduced in the early 2000s. Was it a wrong policy move by the then leadership at the Ministry of Education? Do we have empirical data to trace the implications of this transition?

We have revisited the conversations about systemic failures in the education system several times. The Orlando Patterson-led task force report on education has reinforced the many gaps and inequities with which many are faced. What are we doing about the situation?

How can a child with learning difficulties go through six years of primary school and not be professionally assessed due to a long wait line at The Mico College Child Assessment and Research in Education (CARE) Centre, for example? Why not create more centres and deploy more human resources so that the concerned families can have greater and easier access?

Later this summer, we will have the same conversations when the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results are released.

We need a concerted effort to tackle academic underperformance among our children. But the situation is even more dire, as many adults, including parents, cannot read themselves. Too many are cognitively challenged. We also have a serious comprehension problem in our country. As someone who teaches academic writing courses, I experience it first hand. But one does not need to be a language teacher to know how dire the situation is. If you check the comment section under any newspaper post on social media, it will give you a practical view of the cognitive capacity of the average Jamaican.

Everyone’s effort is needed to help improve the academic failures we have endured as a country. Parents should invest time in their children’s education. They can sit with them and have them read. They can buy books for them. However, too many have prioritised gadgets and trends over positive educational outcomes. But at the same time, some parents do not have the know-how to help their children.

Church is also a good place for children to learn reading and comprehension. In fact, many churches use trained teachers to teach Sabbath and Sunday school. Additionally, the wider community can help through volunteerism. In the spirit of citizenship, people can go into schools to help or have after-school or evening lessons, whether in person or virtually.

The Government of Jamaica has repeatedly noted that it is serious about education and that, on the international stage, it has one of the largest budgets for education, which is commendable, but are we seeing the desired results? How far will we get as a country if we continue to be reactive and do not address the root causes of academic stagnation?

Oneil Madden

Maddenoniel@yahoo.com