KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator Ruel Reid, says reading will help in preparing students for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), which is scheduled to commence in the 2018/19 academic year, the Jamaica Observer reported on May 10.
“It is very opportune that as we are focused on the transition from the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) to PEP, we recognise that it is through reading and self-directed learning that we are going to get students to apply their knowledge that they would have acquired,” he said. In this way, we can see how they apply those concepts in real life and demonstrate their understanding… because that is part of how the exam is going to be structured. They have to be able to read, interpret and apply the concept, and explain themselves in a written form. This is a skill set that is at the very core of success in education.”
The minister was speaking with JIS News yesterday at the New Providence Primary School in Kingston, where he read to a group of grade-four students in celebration of Read Across Jamaica Day 2018.
PEP, which will replace GSAT as the national secondary-school entrance test, is intended to provide an improved and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education. It will comprise a Performance Task Test, Ability Task Test and a Curriculum-Based Test.
