He made the remarks during Educators Professional Day on August 23.

“A lot of work will be done with mathematics teachers in schools on a one to one to strengthen mathematics delivery. For science, more integration with Language Arts and Mathematics will take place and provide opportunities for more discovery learning.”

He continued: “For social studies, we will work to revise the Social Studies curriculum for lower secondary students. The Early Childhood focus will work towards the delivery of a more holistic and fluid early childhood programme and promote greater active involvement of families.”

The Education Minister stated that the Council for Special Education would review and make recommendations for all existing special education legislation adding, that he wants to see“ a greater awareness for children with special needs and the education system catering for them.”

More Plans

During his speech, the Minister said, this year, the Ministry will focus on more training for teachers, data collection of this population of students, training for parents and adequately resourcing the student support services unit.

He informed that all efforts will be made to continue to improve student learning outcomes both locally, in the regional CXC exams, and internationally in the Royal School of Music, Scholastic Aptitude Test exams and the University of Learning Exams, among others.

The Education Minister noted that at the end of this year, the Ministry will have key stage assessments continue for grade nine students and for students from grades 2, 4 and 6.

“The data received when students analyzed will be used to make projections going forward. As Minister, I am committed to ensuring that students are provided with a learning environment that integrates technology as part of their daily educational experience,” he remarked.

The Minister said several investments were made to ensure that all public schools are equipped with essential technology tools for tech integration for the teaching and learning process.

He said despite challenges, the literacy programme continues to work well at the Primary School level, and the Ministry was able to assign a reading specialist to the Ivan Dawson, Leonora Delville and Jost Van Dyke Primary schools to assist with the programme’s delivery.

Advice From Premier

In the meantime, Premier and Minister for Finance Hon. Andrew Fahie had some words of encouragement to educators.

“I want to encourage you, teachers, today because some of your concerns, yes we will work it out on the financial side, but some of them call for us to re-evaluate ourselves and decide we want to move forward.”

He added: “I want to let you know that I cannot guarantee or let you know when life is going to be better for us soon, so since we cannot work on what is around us, we going to have to work on what is in us. That is the only thing that is going to get us through this school year, working on us.”

The theme for the 2021/2022 academic school year is: "Educating all in changing times: Every learner succeeds".