Williams outlines plan to address learning loss

Minister of Education Fayval Williams says that steps are being taken to address the significant learning loss that has occurred in the nation's children as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Williams, speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday, said that a raft of intervention strategies have been put in place to address the problem.

"This year, we will ensure we do the age-four assessment of our students in the early-childhood sector to see where they are in terms of early literacy and early numeracy," Williams said.

"It is important that we do this assessment so [that] we get a good grasp of the learning loss. We will use the times, so if we do it at age four, we will use the next year of their lives, which is age five, to do the necessary intervention. So, by the time they become six years of age and are ready to go to primary school, they are in a better state to take on the work at primary school," the minister said.

For primary schools, students will be tested at grades one and two to determine the kind of interventions that are needed. At the same time, the specialist teachers will be deployed to 230 of these schools.

"When you have teachers who are specialist in their particular subject areas, teaching the subject from grades one to six, it will be a better learning environment for everyone," the minister said.

"Our expectation is that as we go along, and as we do our measurement, we expect to see improvement in our Mathematics and English, and in the eight subject areas in which we have the specialist teachers," she added.

Meanwhile, Williams said that the results from the last sitting of the Primary Exit Profile examinations would be used to determine the level of intervention given to students who are now in high schools.

"It would be a case of teachers identifying where the students are in terms of their learning, and putting in place programmes for them in schools. In many cases, additional work, additional homework, [and] additional in-class work for those students," Williams said.

After being hit with several hurdles in the past year which delayed a successful resumption of face-to-face classes, some 608 schools across the island reopened their doors on Monday.