Senator Morgan says 2026 PEP remained rigorous after Melissa adjustments

Western Bureau: Senator Marlon Morgan, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, has called the 2026 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) outcomes “quite encouraging”, especially across western Jamaica, which bore the heaviest blow from Hurricane Melissa late last year.

Addressing the Ministry of Education’s Principals Back to School Conference in Hanover yesterday, Morgan stood with Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon, acting Chief Education Officer Terry-Ann Thomas-Gayle, and a group of principals in pushing back against Opposition Spokesman on Education Damion Crawford’s assertion that the tests had been “watered down”.

“There are those who, in an uninformed and misguided way, would have thought that, because of the adjustments that were made vis-a-vis Hurricane Melissa, that what we came away with for this 2026 edition of PEP was somehow a watered-down version of the assessment,” Morgan said. “Nothing could be further from the truth in that regard.”

He reported that qualified psychometricians examined the instrument and judged it fit for purpose, rigorous, credible and reliable, and aligned with the main requirements of sound assessment practice.

“What we have in terms of PEP, appropriately underpinned by the National Standards Curriculum, seeks to prioritise a simulation and out-turn in terms of student performance, that will serve our students well, as they navigate further in the education system and go on to post-secondary engagement,” he said, adding that regional counterparts regard Jamaica’s PEP with envy.

Morgan maintained that the current sitting delivered exactly what planners intended when the PEP was introduced years earlier: a rounded picture of each young learner’s abilities.

“As stakeholders in education, you can rest assured that the 2026 sitting of the exam was in no way watered down and, as many of you who would have eye-balled the exams for yourself can attest, the exam was indeed challenging and competitive,” he said.

Crawford had charged that the ministry twisted figures to sell an upbeat story about schooling’s rebound after Hurricane Melissa. Morgan countered that candidates performed strongly and merited praise, given the storm’s disruption. He recalled that numerous schools went without power immediately after Melissa and that some campuses still lack critical supporting infrastructure.

“So, it gives you a sense as to how all of you as school leaders, teachers, parents and the children would have acquitted yourselves in relation to the 2026 staging of the Primary Exit Profile, and the assessment in that regard, and you must applaud yourselves, because the results are encouraging,” he said.

On western Jamaica specifically, he said student scores showed no clear drop-off. He also disclosed that, within the past few weeks, authorities signed a contract to build the country’s first of six Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) schools, to be located at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine.

“I must impress upon all of you as stakeholders, at the primary- and even more so at the high-school level, though your school may not be dubbed a STEM academy, you should tailor your teaching and learning timetabling in such a way as to ensure that the emphasis being placed on STEM is incorporated and manifestly reflected in the engagement provided at your school,” he said.