Storm-tested minds

After experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of primary school students will tomorrow sit the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations just six months after the catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Melissa brought another abrupt pause to their primary school education.

PEP is Jamaica’s national assessment system which is used to place students in secondary schools.

These grade-six students, between 10 and 12 years old, had barely begun their lives as primary school students when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools, disrupting what should be exciting times for children, forcing them back into their homes, with devices being the only connection to teachers and their peers for several months.

By the time they were preparing for the PEP examinations, which would usher them into the next phase of their educational journey, their world was once again turned upside down, this time by Melissa, which claimed lives while destroying schools, homes, churches and other infrastructure, including electricity, Internet and water supply systems.

Among the thousands that will write the PEP papers this week are eight students of Giddy Hall Primary in St Elizabeth, one of the four parishes which bore the brunt of Melissa’s wrath.

The Giddy Hall children are still without a roof over their heads and electricity supply has not yet been restored but, yesterday, acting principal Dahlia Ritchie-Waite told The Gleaner she was confident the teachers have done their best.

“They tried to gather every kind of resources to help them (the students) with the preparation in terms of getting them ready. This set of students, they have passed through COVID and they are capable of doing well.”

Ritchie-Waite said the students were also assisted with processing the trauma in their family and school life, as well as manoeuvring the daily challenges.

“The guidance counsellor from time to time had psychosocial sessions with them. Even leading up to the exams, the guidance counsellor had sessions with them as it relates to getting exam-ready. We still don’t have any roof, so I have to dismiss them very early when I see it setting up to rain, so that’s just the challenge. We are still under tarpaulin, so we just also hope and pray there is no rain during the exams. But these children are very persistent and resilient, I would say, because they are coping. They managed to get through the storm and they are still performing,” stressed Ritchie-Waite.

Nestled in the hilly terrain of Mavis Bank, St Andrew, Mount Fletcher Primary Primary braved floodwaters, which marooned several communities the institution serves, operating without light and Internet and limited water supply, to be one of the schools that opened its doors to students preparing for PEP within weeks after Melissa lashed the island.

This week, 31 students are, in the words of one of their teachers, “adequately prepared for the exams”.

“I think they got enough, because they were just impacted for a week. We reached out to the parents for those children that we were not sure of and we told them to just send them, regardless of whether they have electricity or not. So they came in coloured clothes because uniforms were not available, so we made allowance for that,” senior teacher Nicola McCarthy told The Gleaner.

McCarthy said the preparations were ramped up when the school returned to normal operations.

“So what we did, we did extra classes, regular extra lessons; so the children stayed back. So they had their full classes, then extra lessons; so that was how we prepared them and, since January, we started Saturday classes. So we are satisfied that they are prepared.”

For Buff Bay Primary School principal Jacqueline Edwards, her 96 students are in a high state of readiness despite the challenges Melissa dumped on the Portland school.

“On a scale of one to 10, I would say seven for the most part. Some of them, of course, will excel beyond that, but I am looking at say a seven out of 10. Mark you, there are students who would have been impacted and so, as a result of that, those students may just perform at the average level, while we have some who will always be below average, because we know their ability,” she told The Gleaner.

Like other schools, Edwards and her staff were forced to implement additional measures.

“But the impact, we would have cushioned it somehow with catch-up lessons, and so on, extra lessons, and so on. And, of course, the time was extended, so they got a little more time to study and to reinforce the concepts that they were taught.”

Due to the impact of Hurricane Melissa, the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information reduced the number of assessment components with grade-six students sitting papers in mathematics and language arts on April 29 and ability test on April 30.

PEP replaced the Grade Six Achievement Test in 2018 and evaluates students over three years (grades four, five and six) to provide a complete academic profile focusing on critical thinking and problem-solving.

More than 33,000 students are registered to sit the exams this year.

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com