KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government is moving to deal with the deficit in mathematics at the primary and secondary levels and Education Minister Rev. Ronald Thwaites says there will be an increase in allocation towards ensuring that sufficient mathematics specialists are placed in schools.
He said that only nine per cent of secondary school teachers are qualified to teach mathematics up to grade 11, while 31 per cent of primary teachers are not adequately qualified to teach the subject.
“The results indicate to us that 615 of our primary schools needs support because they are attaining less than 50 per cent mastery at the grade four level and 132 of our high schools are identified as having a critical Mathematics deficit,” he said at the start of the Ministry of education’s inaugural National Mathematics Week.