Letter of the Day | 2026 PEP awards and educational inequality

THE EDITOR, Madam:
Every year, the publication of the government’s PEP scholarship list celebrates Jamaica’s brightest young minds and recognises the hard work of students, parents and teachers. This year, however, the scholarship list exposes a stark imbalance in educational opportunity. 
According to data released by the Ministry of Education, a total of 31,806 students sat the PEP exams in 2026. The majority of these children, 27,375 (86.1 per cent) ,attended public primary schools. Conversely, just 4,431 students (14 per cent) attended private preparatory institutions.
The girls’ cohort: Out of the 14 national open scholarship for girls, 10 attended private preparatory schools (71.4 per cent). Only four girls emerged from the public primary framework.
The boys’ cohort: The pattern repeats. Out of the 14 open scholarship for boys, 11 were produced by the private prep system (78.6 per cent). Only three came from public schools.
The 14 per cent minority in prep schools captured over 70 per cent of the top academic honours, a staggering concentration of achievement within a tiny segment of the primary education system. 
Nobody can fault parents for investing in their children’s future, nor can we fault prep schools for doing exactly what they are paid to do: deliver top-tier results. These children worked incredibly hard and deserve every bit of their success. However, as a society, we must confront the systemic implications. When nearly 70 per cent of the state’s top open academic awards are awarded to students whose families can afford private primary tuition, we are no longer running a pure meritocracy. So, as the Ministry of Education pats itself on the back for another successful PEP cycle, the public must ask the hard question: Are we rewarding raw human potential, or simply rewarding socio-economic privilege?
This is not a criticism of parents or of schools, it is a challenge to policymakers. If one private school can produce six national Government Scholarship recipients in a single year, imagine what Jamaica could achieve if every public primary school had comparable resources, leadership and support. Because the measure of an education system is whether every talented child, attending a private preparatory school in Kingston or a small public primary school in rural Jamaica, has an equal chance to become one of them.
The Ministry of Education should use these findings as a roadmap for reform. If certain schools consistently produce exceptional outcomes, policymakers should identify the practices driving that success and invest in replicating them across the public education system. Equity should mean expanding excellence, not limiting it.

DR. ANYA CUSHNIE
anya.cushnie@gmail.com