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Education Ministry’s Region One embarks on initiative to get more PEP students in classes

Published:Tuesday | May 11, 2021 | 2:06 PM
From left: Alex Hepburn, acting principal of Mona Heights Primary School, Jasmine Kennedy, acting Regional Director for Region 1 in the Ministry of Education, and Audrey Pinnock-Fairweather, acting principal of the Louise Bennett-Coverley All-Age School, interacting with Kianna Hall, a student of Louise Bennett-Coverley on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at Mona Heights. Students from Louise Bennett-Coverley are being accommodated for face-to-face classes at Mona Heights under a special initiative – Rudolph Brown photo.

Some Primary Exit Profile (PEP) students in the Corporate Area at schools that have not resumed in-person teaching will be accommodated at institutions doing face-to-face classes.

Face-to-face teaching resumed at select schools across Jamaica yesterday for students sitting PEP and regional exams.

Noting that there are some schools that do not meet the Ministry of Health and Wellness' standard for reopening, acting regional director for Region One of the Ministry of Education, Jasmine Kennedy, says the region has embarked on an initiative to help facilitate students at schools that have been approved.

Region one covers Kingston and St Andrew.

Of the 159 institutions in the region, over 50 per cent have so far reopened for face-to-face teaching.

Inspections are still ongoing at other institutions.

According to Kennedy, several schools have indicated that they will be opening their doors to outside students.

“It's the will of the educational institution, we are not forcing anything on anyone. Already, we are in discussions with some other institutions that are willing to accept other children,” she said during a tour of the Mona Heights Primary School this morning. 

The initiative started off today with students from the Louise Bennett-Coverley All-Age School being accommodated for in-person teaching at Mona Heights Primary.

Mona's acting principal Alex Hepburn says he believes that no student or school must be left behind. 

Acting principal of Louise Bennett-Coverley All-Age, Audrey Pinnock-Fairweather, said the school's guidance counsellor was brought to Mona to help her students with the transition to a new environment and offer any support that they may need.

“I think the institution facilitating our face-to-face activity, as was expressed by the students themselves, will help to boost their confidence as well as help them to remember the interactions that they have had in the past,” she said.

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