In fulfillment of a mandate given by Head of State David Granger, the Ministry of Education has embarked on an Emergency Math Intervention Programme which will be rolled out in three phases, commencing with pupils in Grades five and six.
Speaking with Chief Education Officer Acting of the Education Ministry, Marcel Hutson, the News Room was informed that the first phase of the programme has commenced, with specific focus in Regions 1, 3, 8, 9 and 10.
Mr. Hutson said pupils in Grades five and six in these regions will benefit from this initial phase, while all the other Grades would be incorporated in the medium (phase two) and long-term (phase three) aspects.
The CEO is confident that this initiative would improve the Math performance at the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE), which was not that commendable this year.
Hutson also informed the News Room that Coordinators and monitors would be hired and will function in keeping with a Terms of Reference that has been developed. The vacancies for these posts would be advertised by the Education Ministry. He said this is in an effort to ensure that the programme does not become a failure.
Sandra Persaud, Curriculum Development Officer (Acting), NCERD explained that teachers are currently being trained in the areas of content and methodology given the fact that children have different learning abilities.
Meantime, Director of NCERD, Jennifer Cumberbath is calling on everyone to get involved in the efforts to “make Math fun” for students. She said the objective is to help these children to think critically, since Math involves problem solving, which has a spin off effect in life.
She noted too that cluster meetings are held often with the aim of strengthening Math performance beginning from Grade one.
