Students of McGrath High School perform during the launch of the Centre of Excellence at the school in St Catherine last Friday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

McGrath High, located in rural St Catherine was one school, which made good use of The Gleaner's Newspaper-in-Education (NIE) programme. Principal Dr Cynthia Anderson said the project helped students improve in their weak areas.

"One major problem at the school was that some students were not able to express themselves easily and the NIE project helped them to be better in that area," she said.

Students more involved

Dr Anderson explained that the programme helped the students to improve reading skills and to get more involved in class discussions, better preparing them for Caribbean Secondary Education Council (CSEC) exams.

"The improvement reflects in the CSEC results of which there is an increase in the passes, such as a 8.59 per cent increase in the English A result," explained Dr Anderson.

The Gleaner's Newspaper-in-Education programme was not only beneficial to McGrath High's CSEC level students, but also to the quiz and debate teams.