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.

Addressing the annual graduation exercise at the Parottee Primary School in St. Elizabeth recently, Mr. Green said there is an 86 per cent literacy mastery among the students.

The State Minister explained that the target was surpassed for this year as the Ministry had set it at 85 per cent, adding that the aim is to get more schools achieving 100 per cent mastery.

He said the Ministry remains confident that every student at the grade 4 level should be able to master literacy skills.

Meanwhile, the State Minister pointed out that performance in mathematics continues to lag among grade 4 students and efforts are being made to improve the 60 per cent mastery which now obtains.

Mr. Green said the Ministry is willing to provide specialists to work with the children. “At the end of the day, I want all my children leaving grade 4 to be masters in literacy and numeracy skills,” he said.

He commended the students and teachers for their performance at Parottee Primary.

“Parottee has been doing well and I think it is our responsibility to spread the good news. Very few schools can boast that they have ever gotten one hundred per cent in the grade 4 literacy examination and Parottee has achieved that,” the State Minister said.

In recognition of the performance of students in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), Mr. Green announced that he will be presenting bursaries to the top male and female student at the school.

This bursary, he added, will also be presented to the top male and female GSAT student at every primary school in South West St. Elizabeth, which he represents in Parliament.

Mr. Green also noted that the top GSAT teachers in the constituency will also be rewarded.

Source: Jamaica Information Service