Letter of the Day | Time for reform of the school system

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination was introduced with the worthy intention of assessing students and facilitating placement in secondary schools. Yet, years later, it is evident that the system has also produced unintended and deeply troubling consequences. PEP has become a season of fear, sleepless nights, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. Instead of looking forward to high school with excitement, many approach it with dread.

Concerns have been raised about the enormous pressure placed on children who are barely entering adolescence. Reports of students experiencing severe stress, depression, emotional breakdowns, and even suicidal thoughts should disturb every Jamaican. Whether such cases are few or many is beside the point. Even one child pushed to the brink by our education system is one too many.

No 11-year-old should carry the emotional weight of an examination that appears to determine the course of their future.

The deeper problem, is the culture of ranking and competition that surrounds it. We have created a system in which a handful of schools are viewed as “good schools”, while many others are unfairly regarded as second-tier institutions. Consequently, families believe that success depends not merely on receiving a quality education but on gaining entry into a select group of prestigious schools.

This is neither equitable nor sustainable.

Students should progress naturally from primary to secondary school through continuous assessment rather than being ranked primarily by one high-stakes examination. A child’s potential cannot be accurately measured by performance on a single set of tests. Character, creativity, perseverance, leadership, and practical abilities develop over many years and deserve equal recognition.

Equally important, there should be a shift towards a community-based system of secondary education in which students ordinarily attend the high school closest to where they live.

If parents are desperate to avoid certain schools, the answer is to improve every school.

Every secondary school should receive the requisite resources necessary to become a school of excellence. The quality of a child’s education should never depend upon the community into which that child was born or on performance in one examination at age 11.

Some critics will argue that neighbourhood-based placement removes parental choice. But genuine choice exists only when every school offers a high standard of education. Until then, what we call “choice” is often little more than competition for scarcity.

This conversation is about raising standards everywhere, and making excellence accessible to every child.

Education should develop healthy, confident, compassionate, and capable citizens – not anxious children who believe their worth can be reduced to an examination score.

DR BURNETT ROBINSON

blpprob@aol.com