Guardian Life Ltd’s president Earl Moore, concerned about poor performance of some students at the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) has backed the $7M production of a tele-revision series entitled, A-Grader’s. “Several years ago I learnt there were students qualifying for secondary school with GSAT results of 18% and 20% and I decided to do something about it,” Mr. Moore said.
The programme, “A-Graders” is a dramatized series following the lives of three children and their families from rural, inner-city and sub-urban Jamaica as they prepare for GSAT. Complex elements of the Math and English are incorporated into the script and highlighted graphically.
He considered working with the University of the West Indies to set up a tutoring programme using retired teachers, but wanted a wider base of students to be assisted. So he commissioned the Junior Chambers International, St. Andrew chapter to develop a project plan for the television programme.
“By making this programme available on national television, we hope to improve the access to “extra-lessons” to boys and girls, in rural and urban Jamaica and thus improve the performance of our young Jamaicans across all demographics,” Mr. Moore said.
Mr. Moore was also moved by his personal experience when preparing his daughter and niece for the exams four years ago. He found it daunting and wondered how students without adequate family support managed. “A-Graders can help parents who, like me, found the content daunting. It’s also help for teachers who want all the students in her overcrowded classroom to do well, but does not have the means to realize this. Ultimately, I hope this can contribute to better GSAT results, while enhancing learning in general for students at the primary level,” Mr. Moore said. The GSAT exams are set for March 13th and 14th and are sat by some 50,000 students.
The 2004 Task Force on Education stated that the average grades in Math and Language Arts for the 2003 exams were 48% and 52% respectively. Mrs. Merlin Bariffe, acting chief education officer at the Ministry of Education says this intervention is useful.“Positive televised educational programming is helpful. Children like visual material, and, seeing other children their age sharing a common experience will stimulate their interest,” Mrs Bariffe said.
A Graders is aired on CVM Television on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5pm and repeated on Saturday mornings at 9am.
