POINT, Hanover — A senior official from the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth & Information has defended the integrity of the 2026 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations following the Opposition’s criticism regarding the quality and validity of the reported results.

“We stand [by] the data that is presented on the assessment; and it’s up for investigation and scrutiny if you’d like but I can assure you that our minister, in due course, will respond fulsomely to our Opposition, if she so desires,” Acting Chief Education Officer Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle said Monday.

She was responding to queries from the Jamaica Observer on the margins of the education ministry’s Region Seven School Leadership Conference 2026, held at the Grand Palladium Hotel in Hanover.

The defence follows claims by People’s National Party spokesman on education, Damion Crawford, who questioned the reliability of the ministry’s data which points to improved performance. Crawford suggested the ministry is focused on manipulating data to craft a positive narrative, pointing out that this year’s examination format differed significantly from previous years, specifically regarding the exclusion of certain categories and the reduction of application-based components.

Crawford maintained that other education stakeholders are also questioning the quality of the literacy mastery exam.

Last month the ministry reported improved performance in language arts and mathematics for grade six students. According to the data, 72 per cent of the 31,677 students achieved proficiency in language arts, up from 69 per cent last year, while mathematics scores rose to 69 per cent, compared to 63 per cent in 2025. Additionally, this year introduced literacy and numeracy assessments, with 79 per cent of students achieving mastery in literacy and 75 per cent in numeracy.

Acting Chief Education Officer Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle in an interview with the Jamaica Observer Monday during the education ministry’s Region 7 School Leadership Conference 2026 held at the Grand Palladium Hotel in Hanover. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)

On Monday, Thomas Gayle urged stakeholders to trust the process.

“I would tell our parents and I would tell all of Jamaica: Please allow the PEP exam, which is built on the National Standards Curriculum, to do what is intended. Once we see that the test is doing what is intended we will see a Jamaica group of students leaving our system — from primary and high school — more resilient, more 21st century, [and] more critical thinkers. That’s what the National Standards Curriculum is set out to achieve — develop critical thinkers,” she insisted.

“All the Primary Exit Profile is doing is measuring the extent to which we are developing those thinkers. We are busy using the data from the assessment to see how we can address the areas of weakness identified, and that’s what my responsibility is: To ensure that where there are gaps, that we are addressing those gaps,” added Thomas Gayle.

The three-day leadership conference, held under the theme ‘Shaping the Future of Education through Resilience and Innovation’, concludes on July 15. The event aims to enhance leadership capacity and discuss school improvement strategies for Region 7, which comprises 109 public schools in Clarendon. One hundred and six schools attended this year’s conference.

On day one, Ministry of Education Region 7 Regional Director Barrington Richardson said the region’s targeted training for teachers in numeracy and literacy over the years is yielding positive results.

“We have pull-out math training for all our teachers at the primary level, we have pull-out training for our literacy teams, and we are seeing steady progress. This year, for PEP, we are just a little below the national average, and for us that is a sign that the work that we are doing on the ground — year-long, across terms — we are reaping some amount of results,” stated Richardson.