Louise Bennett Coverley Primary hailed for literacy gains

Louise Bennett Coverley Primary School has been praised for achieving a 21 per cent increase in Grade Four literacy scores.

For the 2025-26 academic year, the literacy rate for PEP Grade 4 examinations increased to 66.7 per cent, moving from 45 per cent in 2024-25.

The school also improved its ranking in the annual National Education Inspectorate (NEI) from receiving a satisfactory grade in the past to good in the previous academic year.

On Tuesday, while officially handing over a decommissioned rebranded glass-front refrigerator with 120 books as part of the Di Cawna Library initiative, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Marlon Morgan. commended the school for their efforts to increase their literacy rating.

“It brings into sharp focus an issue we continue to place a high premium on as a ministry, and I’m delighted that the stakeholders here at the Louise Bennett Coverley Primary School embrace reading as a culture. They embrace reading and literacy as imperatives in education,” he said. “Literacy is the building block. It is the foundation on which everything else in education is directed.”

With new reading books handed over in Di Cawna Library, which is located inside the school’s library, he encouraged the students to play their part by reading and studying to further increase the literacy rate at the school.

“Borrow the books, read them. Read them with a critical mind to internalise what is contained in the books because you have a great role to play as student leaders and to encourage your peers to foster, actively, a culture of reading because literacy, as you all can appreciate, is a building block in education. Everything else springs from our literacy competence. Even when we undertake numeracy endeavours, you have to be able to read and apply what you are doing from literacy in relation to your numeracy pursuits,” Morgan told the students.

Di Cawna Library for Louise Bennett Primary was created by organiser Rachel McDonald in partnership with the Rotary Club of New Kingston.

“You complement our work in education through initiatives such as these because as a ministry, we cannot do all there is to do in education and all there is to do positively impacting the lives of our children,” Morgan said.

Principal Sheena Taylor Morgan was grateful for the donation.

“I am extremely grateful for the initiative. It will aid in the literacy programme here. All the students and staff members, especially those who are a part of our literacy programmes, appreciate this gesture,” Taylor Morgan said.

There are approximately 110 students enrolled at the school.

Di Cawna Library was designed to promote the transfer of knowledge through the written word.