NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (May 19, 2021) — An education official in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) says the thrust toward providing equitable education for students in St. Kitts and Nevis is forging ahead satisfactorily.
Ms. Zahnela Claxton, Principal Education Officer in the Department of Education, told the Department of Information on May 14, 2021, that she is pleased with the progress. She was at the Nevis Disaster Management Department’s (NDMD) conference room, during the first meeting on Nevis with colleague secondary school principals throughout the federation.
“It is indeed a pleasure for us to be making these strides and we know that with every change it takes time; it takes a change in mindset; it takes preparation and so this is one additional step in that direction…
“We are asking for everyone’s support. We know that navigating change as I said is not a small feat, and so step by step we will make sure that we will be able to reach our students effectively based on their learning styles, based on their needs, based on their interests, and we will be able to, as I said provide equitable education for all,” she said.
During the session on Nevis the agenda items for discussion were de-streaming, the Year 1 course offerings, and the transition to secondary school for the Grade 6 students, who this year will not be writing Test of Standards.
Another area Ms. Claxton pointed to for discussion was the plan to implement new guidelines for graduation from secondary school.
“We are creating a graduation criteria which will not be limited to CSEC/CXC as we have traditionally experienced but we will now be moving towards a graduation criteria where students have to complete a certain number of courses and credits in order to graduate, and so we’re discussing the proposed pathways with our principals across the federation,” she said.
The Principal Education Officer also spoke of some changes already being tested among students in primary schools.
“We know that during the course of the 2020/2021 school year Grades 4 and 6 were part of a technical review rollout for the new curriculum, the enhanced curriculum documents in the new core subject areas in Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and we added Health and Wellness during this school year. Health and Wellness has two components – Health Literacy and Physical Literacy or Physical Education.
There are some other steps that we have which will come into effect shortly,” she said.
Ms. Claxton also used the opportunity to announce upcoming meetings on Nevis, as they continue to advance the implementation of the enhanced curriculum.
“We will be having some discussions with the secondary school teachers and we will also have a series of meetings…here on Nevis commencing on the 25th (of May, 2021) during a two-week period.
“Parents will receive individual invitations by school and the same obtains in St. Kitts as well and the aim for those consultations and those discussions is to help parents to see the direction of the new curriculum, and also to give them an appreciation of what will happen as their students transition to secondary school,” she said.
Among the education officials present at the meeting were Mr. Francil Morris, Deputy Chief Education Officer, and Mrs. Amanda Edmeade, Acting Director of the Curriculum Development Unit in St. Kitts