Education in Jamaica

[Wahalla]

I was one of those. I was deported from STATHS for not wearing Leather Black Shoes. I chose to wear non-leather.
Then when I was sent to KTHS they tried to put all the dreads out (including myself), for locks.
We stood our ground and threaten to go to media about it. It did in fact reach the media.

After that I quit wearing locks, the others continued and we all were Rastas throughout our time at school.
But it also when I began to the question protest and discipline, the rule of law and what is permissible and what is not.
I think not wearing animal products was my right and it was a right that could be accommodated without any outwards appearance that departed from the intent of the Uniform.
Similarly Dreadlocks was a right and would not in no way debase the Uniform, nor the impair the ability to learn.
But it was not about dreadlocks or leather shoes. It was good Christians realizing their religion was under threat, decided to put an end to it. Therefore in my mind the fight was just.

Here is a slightly different case. The parents requests would physically alter the uniform in some respect, but they would have been accommodated with the student allowed to wear in effect an alternative to the standard uniform. So the parent is being unreasonable.
The School and the MOE have however lost the moral high ground because they gave the parents the runaround and refused in the early stages to meet with her on a level to resolve the issue.

I vary from u on that... The uniform good... however if there is a belif system that requires some change then yes...

Sihk in the UK are allowed to wearr their head gear as part of the uniforms...

A modification should be allowed...Locks should be allowed.. Bajans allow locks but stop boys from wearing plaited hair... The function of uniform should not be the basis of exclusion from education..But u are right the ministry should have been clear.

[Tuff Gong]

... The function of uniform should not be the basis of exclusion from education..But u are right the ministry should have been clear.

The function of the uniform is to allow identification/demarcation from school to school and even cohort to cohort.
Any alteration that impair that ability should not be allowed.
In this case the lady asked for a lengthening of the sleeves and hemline. It could be argued that these would not vary the uniform in any great way. But the school also offered an alternative, that would protect the integrity of their uniform, while allowing the Student a choice based on her religion.

Were it not for the bungling of the School Admin and the MOE, take this case to any court, the school would win every time and I would be in agreement with such a judgement.

[Wahalla]

I find it odd that there are opeds in the gleaner that I agree with...Ruel claims that he is beating the targets he has set...The gleaner makes a point there about the streaming of children... Ruel has publicily come out in the past on this subject.

Ruel I know was offered another job this year.. Headmaster of Munro.. for what ever reason he did not take it.. He claims to have lifted his school...

To me teachers need to set individual targets and meet them...



Published: Tuesday | September 3, 20130 Comments




While we hope for more and better particulars from Ruel Reid, the headmaster of Jamaica College (JC), we welcome his approach to public accountability and recommend the principle to other head teachers.
Indeed, we suggest to Mark Nicely, the new president of the JamaicaTeachers' Association (JTA), the teachers' union, that he robustly promote the system to his members as part of his efforts to rebuild the credibility of the JTA, so badly tattered by its seeming willing acceptance of the abysmal performance of our schools.
Jamaica College, fashioned on the concept of the old English grammar school, is more than 200 years old. It used to be an elite school of top performers.
But like Jamaica's education system, more broadly, while access widened, standards, over the past several decades, declined.
Recent analysis, by educatejamaica.org, of the 2012 outcomes by Jamaican students in the Caribbean Examinations Council's (CXC) secondary-schools exams placed JC in the lower quadrant of performers.
39TH OVERALL
Only 29 per cent of JC students passed at least five subjects, including math and English, at a single sitting in those exams. In other words, 71 per cent of the school's students did not perform well enough at CXC. (Passing five subjects is considered the minimum to matriculate to higher education or to qualify for 'decent' jobs.)
JC's performance under educatejamaica.org's criteria was not far off from the 39th position among high schools it occupied in a more rigorous 2004 study by Dr Dennis Minott of the teaching-learning organisation A-QuEST. The Minott study was before Mr Reid arrived at JC and discipline at the school had collapsed.
Despite bristling over this latest report, we appreciate the essence of Mr Reid's response. He has publicly announced performance targets for each subject, with the aim of 100 per cent passes in all by 2016. These criteria were apparently set four years ago.
MORE DETAILS NEEDED
Among the things Mr Reid has to clarify, though, is whether the concept of the fifth-form cohort, on which he measures passes, includes all the students who enter JC at first form. This kind of tracking, which formed part of Dr Minott's analysis, provides a measure of how good a job our schools do at retaining their students. Mr Reid must also indicate whether JC screens out students in an effort to enhance its exam passes.
The need for these clarifications notwithstanding, Mr Reid has provided us with a basis for judging JC's, and his own performance, over the next four years. He can be held to account.
Other principals should want to do the same. Many, as is often the position of the JTA, argue that schools like JC have well-to-do patrons and substantial endowments to help provide the resources with which to finance their success.
We agree!
Performance targets need not be the same across schools. These can be weighted for the financial resources available to schools, the performance standards of students who join from primary schools, and other relevant factors. The bottom line, however, is that schools must be on a trajectory of improvement.
An incentive, the quality of output of our schools, measured significantly in exam results, should be part of the basis for remunerating teachers.

[Wahalla]

Hampton Challenges the Ministry's Data

Aug 19, 2013

We challenged schools to provide us with data that would support their case of being wrongly represented by our Secondary School Guide. Of all the 162 schools challenged only Hampton has come forward. Hampton is declaring that the data collated by the Ministry of Education is missing some data. We are in dialogue with Hampton’s Principal and Chairman to ratify this. We are still awaiting confirmation of their 2012 data. As was said Hampton is the only school of the 162 who is challenging the guide.
The principal and Chairman has presented us with their data for the recent 2013 CSEC exams and it is a warning shot to all other schools that Hampton is still Hampton and that the girls of Hampton will not relent.
The recently 2013 CSEC data (and this data is inclusive of their grade ten cohort who would have sat Mathematics and English early. on Hampton is as follows:
CSEC (100% in 13 of 23 subjects) and 98% CAPE (100% in 27 of 34 units), 100% Upper 6 matriculation to tertiary institutions. 46.3% of G11 cohorts passed 9-12 subjects, 36.3% passed 8 and only 17.4% passed 7 or less.
We are still in the process of verifying the data coming out of Hampton, however if the data is confirmed as accurate, it will place Hampton very high in the rankings.

The Chairman has asked us to tell the world that Hampton has a team second to none, led by the phenomenal Heather Dawn Murray and VPs Evol Beckford and Rosean Lounges.
Hampton is sounding a warning shot to Campion, St. Hilda’s, Glenmuir, Immaculate etc. that it intends to claim the seat at the helm of academic championship soon and very soon.