Over the years many students have been unable to matriculate to sixth-form programmes due to various reasons. The Ministry of Education and Youth, having observed this, developed and is now executing the Sixth-Form Pathways.

The Sixth-Form Pathways is part of the ministry’s implementation of a seven-year high-school programme allowing students who have completed grade 11 to pursue a two-year course of study with alternative opportunities alongside the traditional sixth-form curriculum.

The ministry has been implementing what is referred to as the K-13 Strategy in an effort to ensure that all Jamaican learners have access to education from the early childhood to secondary levels of the education system.

Under the programme, the ministry will provide tuition support to all high school graduates to access secondary education at grades 12 and 13 levels. This means that all existing grade-11 students will be able to transition to a grade 12-programme in the new school year.

According to the ministry, the intent of this approach is to ensure that learning opportunities become more inclusive, relevant and applicable to a wider number of students. The aim is to encourage students aged 16 to 18/18+ to remain in school longer, instead of exiting the system at the end of grade 11, only to languish in the unemployment pool or become unattached or socially delinquent youth.

Therefore, along with the traditional sixth form, offerings beyond grade 11 will be expanded through the integration of the Career Advancement Programme (CAP) and programmes facilitated by the Centre for Occupational Studies (COS), utilising a career pathways approach so that all students will have access to educational opportunities beyond grade 11.

The ministry has partnered with several community colleges and tertiary institutions to deliver the programme. The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) is among the tertiary institutions that will be participating in the programme.

“We are pleased to advise you of a new groundbreaking partnership initiative with the Ministry of Education and Youth, the Sixth Form Pathways Programme. The programme will allow all Jamaican 2022 high school graduates to automatically transition to grade 12 to earn either their chosen Occupational Associate Degree (OAD) or a Traditional Associate Degree (TAD) offered by other participating tertiary institution such as the UCC after completing grade 11.”

Under this new K-13 model, the ministry will provide a scholarship for the two years to all students.

In this regard, high schools and other tertiary institutions in Jamaica will now partner to offer various Sixth Form Pathways for the new school year starting in 2022.

All students who start in 2022 will automatically be eligible to receive a 50 per cent scholarship on their third-year tuition if they choose to pursue their bachelor’s degree with the UCC for two more years after completing their associate degree.

For those who choose not to attend a tertiary institution, the certification they receive at the end of the Sixth-Form Pathways Programme will prepare them to enter various fields of work or receive further general or technical training.