School break cut short

Students who complete common entrance exams will no longer have a long break before going on to secondary school. Instead, they now have to attend four weeks of transitional classes before beginning the new phase of their education.{{more}}

Chief Education Officer Susan Dougan said that this decision came out of consultations on universal access to secondary education held last year.

Dougan said that after the common entrance examinations, which this year will be set on May 20, students will be given a two-week break after which they will return to school for four weeks.

According to Dougan, during these four weeks students will be given preparation that will help them bridge the transitional gap between primary and secondary school.

Dougan added that for some, this four week period would be for the acquisition of creative and social skills while for others, “it would be for a high dosage of remedial work in the area of weakness”.

Students in the remedial classes will be evaluated after the four-week period and students not showing satisfactory work would return after the Carnival break to continue remedial exercises in summer school.

Dougan also revealed that plans are in place to reward teachers who teach summer school. Teachers will also be trained to recognised challenged students with problems such as autism and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).