Marcus Garvey Tech seeks help to increase classroom spaces
Published:Monday | April 18, 2022 | 12:06 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
As Marcus Garvey Technical High School marks its golden anniversary this academic year, the St Ann-based institution is seeking to retain 100 students for its sixth-form programme, but it is in dire need of additional classroom spaces.
“Help us. Join us as we celebrate 50 years. Join us as we try to retain more than 100 of our students in sixth form,” principal Anniona Jones appealed to the wider Jamaica in an interview with The Gleaner.
“We need to construct at least six new classrooms; they don’t have to have four walls – [just] a roof and a floor and my teachers will try to do the rest. But partner with us, we are asking for an investment in the future of these children,” she added.
In her four years as principal at the school named in honour of Jamaica’s first national hero, Jones has overseen vast improvements in academics and other areas at the institution.
In 2020, the school recorded its best examinations results in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination/tests – both administered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) – since it was converted to a technical high school in 1987.
The school was first established in 1971 as a junior secondary school and subsequently upgraded. It currently has just under 1,800 students on roll at its two campuses – the main block in St Ann’s Bay, and in Mansfield, Ocho Rios.
Jones is seeking help to continue the transformation of an institution that was once labelled a failed school.
Like several other non-traditional high schools, Marcus Garvey Technical receives some of the weakest students who sit the high-school placement examinations at the end of primary studies.
Frequently, between 30 and 40 per cent of the more than 300 students entering the school annually are performing at an academic level that is several grades below where they need to be.
But the school is now able to turn out students who are on par with those at many traditional high schools.
During Jones’ tenure, the number of students who usually graduate from Marcus Garvey Technical without even a single CSEC subject at the end of grade 11 has fallen dramatically – from more than 100 to just over 20. The school has also introduced an associate degree programme in hospitality and tourism management.
The revolution needs to continue, she indicated, with support to the most vulnerable students.
“Let us move beyond the talk and let us get these children in school, fed, clothed and in academic programmes that can get them certified. CXC is not the only option. City & Guilds is not the only option. HEART/NSTA [Trust], that is not the only option. We will find – and have been finding – a combination of courses to help these children. We are at the point now where we can do so much and no more, but like all other warriors, we are not quitting; we are just asking for the assistance of Jamaica,” Jones said in her pitch.