Gov’t announces changes to PEP

The Government has announced changes to the 2021 sitting of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).

Addressing a virtual post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, Education Minister Fayval Williams said that the Grade Six Ability Test, which was originally set for February 23 and rescheduled for March 25, has again been postponed. The new date for the examination is May 26.

In addition, as was the case last year, there would be no performance task or curriculum-based test. Placement of students in high schools would be done using the May 26 Ability Test scores combined with the results of the Grade Four Performance Task exams in Language Arts and Mathematics that the students would have taken in 2019.

Williams said that the changes were brought about by restrictions to contain the spike in cases of COVID-19 in Jamaica.

She said that following consultations with stakeholders in the education sector, it was agreed that students "would be best served by utilising a similar format that was used in 2020 for the placement of our grade-six students into high schools".