The Ministry of Education intends to expand on its ‘Re-engaging for Success’ remediation programme.
The project offers on-site support to students with behavioural challenges, providing guidance and counselling, among other things.
During an MoE press conference on Monday, Chief Education Officer, Dr Peter Smith, said it is intended to be a “comprehensive, multifaceted and cohesive system of support which will enable students to overcome barriers to learning and re-engage them in classroom instruction.”
“The focus will be on the academic, social, emotional, and intellectual learning obstacles that occur at the neighbourhood, family, school, peer and individual level,” Dr Smith said.
To do this, he said, the ministry will employ over 80 school social workers, 40 guidance counsellors, and training some 400 teachers, curriculum officers and school supervisors, vacation revision classes and after school support for Standard Three to Five students.
Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said the programme already began in 26 secondary schools over the last academic term and is being expanded to the 80 primary schools from this academic term.
However, while the initiative is being expanded, the minister said the wheel need not be reinvented.
“The fact is that our system does have many of these measures built-in, but they have fallen by the wayside in one way or the other through the years. Therefore what is critically required is not a new, fancy initiative, it is accountability—the staff of the MoE who occupy the relevant positions must take charge of their piece of the system and ensure it works; there must be communication at all levels between Divisions, and the methods of data collection and analysis must evolve to suit the needs of today,” the Minister said.
The Ministry said a total of 106 schools are in need of additional student services, security, academic support and infrastructural repairs.
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