Troupe says students responding positively to Sixth-Form Pathways Programme
Vanassa McKenzie / Our Today
Acting Chief Education Officer Kasan Troupe says students have been responding positively to the Sixth-Form Pathways Programme, a seven-year high school initiative by the Ministry of Education and Youth.
Troupe, who was speaking during a local radio programme on Tuesday, September 5, said: “We are proud to report that students have been retained and we see the natural progression happening this year. Everybody is about sixth form, they’re attaching themselves.”
The Sixth-Form Pathways Programme allows secondary-level students to be exposed to variety of disciplines including academics, skills and vocational training.
“Last year’s data showed a massive jump from up restaining 14,000 students to 24,000 students in our secondary programme of learning and, of course, students are not only in our high schools, but they are also in our community college, they are in private tertiary institutions and I must say that those institutions have responded especially the tertiary private (institutions) they have responded,” Troupe said.
While noting that there has been a positive response to the programme, the education officer said that there is a challenge in Region Two.
“Where we have a challenge though is in Region Two, you know St Mary, St Thomas, Portland. We don’t have a lot of tertiary institutions that side and so those parishes continue to struggle in ensuring that we find spaces for them but we map them to institutions in Kingston nearest to them and when have been trying to retrofit some areas out there, partner with some private schools, build out their facilities to accommodate,” she said.
The programme was launched at the beginning of the 2022/2023 academic year.
Comments