Pryce defends changes at Sydney Pagon High School

The reportedly underperforming Sydney Pagon High, the agricultural school in Brae's River, St Elizabeth, is to be converted into a regular high school in order to alleviate the space shortage at the secondary level in the parishes of Manchester and St Elizabeth.

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites, who made the announcement in the House of Representatives last Wednesday, also disclosed that Belair High School in Manchester will be extended to allow it to accommodate more pupils.

While attempts to reach the principal of Sydney Pagon High, Blansford Henry, were unsuccessful, Raymond Pryce, the member of parliament for North East St Elizabeth, in whose constituency the school falls, said the institution has been underperforming for a number of years.

BENEFIT STAKEHOLDERS

According to Pryce, transforming it into a day school with greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as well as agriculture, would benefit the stakeholders.

"It is not an abandonment of an agricultural emphasis, but also it is to attract better crops of students. Nobody can be comfortable with the academic performance of students at the Sydney Pagon High School over the last many years," said Pryce.

He noted that Sydney Pagon is a feeder school for the College of Agriculture Science and Education (CASE), "but after five years there, you are not getting people who are able to matriculate into CASE in the numbers that we would want."

Pryce added: "The school cannot continue to be allowed to underperform".

According to Pryce, greenhouse technology will be available as part of the curriculum offering at Sydney Pagon.

UPGRADE OF DEPARTMENTS

He told The Sunday Gleaner that while the economics laboratories have been improved, there is need for upgrade of the metal and woodwork departments to offer services to not only enrolled students but also to members of the wider community.

The most recent Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica published by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, showed that there was an improvement in the performance of the Jamaican students in mathematics and English across all schools in 2012-2013 when compared with 2011-2012.

However, the survey noted that the performance in technical and agricultural high schools was below that of their counterparts in other secondary schools.

While students in the regular high schools had average scores of 65.0 per cent for English A and 44.0 per cent for mathematics, students in technical and agricultural high schools scored at an average 52.0 per cent and 25.4 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate last Wednesday, Thwaites said STEM is being used as a pillar in the development of the new curriculum from grades one to nine.

"This will result in the upgrading of science laboratories and provision of equipment in our high schools. Micro-science kits will also be provided at the upper primary level to ensure the proper preparation of those students for high school," he said.

The minister further announced levels one and two HEART/Trust-NVQJ programmes will become more available to the secondary school cohort.