Minister of Education and Youth, Maxine Henry-Wilson, is blaming some teachers for the poor performance of some students who sat the Grade Four Literacy Test.

"Teachers seem to absolve themselves of all responsibility," she said, in response to Tuesday's lead story in The Gleaner under the headline 'Still illiterate'. She was quick to point out that the ministry was not absolving itself from blame.

Framework and guidance

She said that the Education Ministry sets the curriculum which provides the framework and guidance for teachers, but added that "we do not ask them to have children learning by rote".

Results of the Grade Four Literacy Test have shown that at least 40 per cent of students who took the test were reading below the required level. According to the minister, intervention to remedy the problem will begin in another week or two. The intervention will replace the literacy programme which was usually held during the summer, to facilitate the resitting of the literacy test by those who failed.

Jasper Lawrence, senior education officer in the Ministry of Education, told The Gleaner that the programme will run from June 11-28. "Schools involved will be supplied with a per capita grant of $2,000 per child and material for the programme," he disclosed.