PNP chides Government over PEP 'confusion'

The Opposition People's National Party (PNP) said that while it supports the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), the new secondary-school entrance exam, its members are gravely concerned that it is being implemented in ways that are likely to result in failure.

The party's shadow minister on education, Ronald Thwaites, told the press yesterday that there was mass confusion in how the Government chooses to roll out the exam.

Thwaites also used the occasion of the party's press conference at its Old Hope Road headquarters to call on the Government to release results of the PEP mock exam that was given a few months ago, the early indications of which, he said, show a lack of preparation of, and understanding by, the teachers, students and parents.

"These are serious issues, and calling teachers to one-off seminars and workshops, and issuing bulletins are not sufficient for the preparation of the students for the PEP," he said.

Thwaites, who served as education minister in previous PNP administrations, said that preparation for PEP is not adequate, and called it a bungling of the nation's education system by the Government.

"We need to stop now; forget the public relations and as a nation do the best we can for our children by offering with clarity the material that they need and to offer their preceptors the kind of intense training required in order for them to succeed," he stressed.

STUDENTS ARE NERVOUS

The opposition spokesman on education said that National Standards Curriculum on which the PEP is drawn has not yet been disclosed fully or adequately to the teachers, resulting in the ongoing chaos.

"Our children deserve better. Proper education cannot be attained in an environment of uncertainty and waste," said Thwaites.

Co-spokesman on education and training for the PNP, Michael Stewart, said that students across the country are nervous as a result of the uncertainty surrounding PEP.

"Three weeks after school started I have never seen so much confusion. Students are nervous, and we fear the severe physiological impact on these students. Their parents are concerned, the teachers and administrators are nervous also," Stewart said.

"They have not seen the mock exam result. Some of the curriculum were delivered over the weekend in several areas in region five and placed at shops; they were given to neighbours near to schools, which cannot be a proper way of dealing with the implementation of PEP, and we are saying that the confusion that is out there is not good for the education system."

paul.clarke@gleanerjm.com