State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, says the target set by the Ministry for mastery in literacy among grade 4 primary school students has been surpassed.

Some $30 million has been allocated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information for an early intervention programme for young children and their mothers. State Minister in the Ministry, Hon. Floyd Green, said the Ministry will be collaborating with the Ministries of Health, and Labour and Social Security for the implementation of the programme to provide stimulation for children before they enter the formal education system.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will begin a phased implementation of the National Standards Curriculum at the start of the new academic year.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), on Thursday, June 2, with Jamaica 4-H to establish clubs in all public schools, from the primary to tertiary levels.

If one is looking for a case study in the role of leadership in improving school performance, then Godfrey Stewart High School, formerly Savanna-la-Mar Comprehensive High School, is a classic example. Once plagued by low levels of academic performance coupled with negative behaviours, the school is gradually becoming Westmoreland’s centre for mathematics, which is no mean feat as, according to the school’s website, “incoming students are usually at the lower end of the academic continuum with only 18 – 25 per cent of them functionally literate”.