The Ministry of Education will introduce a change to the traditional school day as two public secondary schools prepare to pilot extended hours from today. The initiative, which will extend school hours to 3pm on selected days, marks a departure from the current schedule that operates from 8 am to 1:30 pm.
Director of Education Clare Browne unveiled details of the carefully structured pilot program, which will be implemented at Sir Novelle Richards Academy (SNRA) and Glanvilles Secondary School. The schools were strategically selected to represent different student population sizes, with SNRA serving over 500 students and Glanvilles Secondary accommodating between 100 and 200 students.
The extended hours will follow a structured schedule as SNRA will operate until 3 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, while Glanvilles Secondary will extend its hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The program aims to enhance students’ educational experience through co-curricular activities and additional teacher-interaction time.
However, Browne emphasised that the implementation will be gradual and student-focused.
“Come Monday morning, it’s not just like, okay, the day would be expanded because we have to gauge the interest of the students,” he stated. “There are some things that still need to be done, so the principals will work with their student body to ensure that they can place the student population in these offerings.”
The Ministry of Education has established a collaborative relationship with the Department of Creative Industries and Culture, under Director Khan Cordice, to develop diverse subject offerings. Schools will have the flexibility to introduce subjects based on student interests and preferences.
Addressing concerns about students’ existing commitments, Browne clarified the Ministry’s stance on attendance.
“The Ministry of Education is well aware that there are some students that are already involved in meaningful after-school programmes, and the Ministry is not trying to remove these students from those meaningful after-school programmes because they’re already engaged.”
Students can be excused from the extended hours if they provide documentation proving their involvement in other educational activities, requiring both parental confirmation and verification from program supervisors, he added.
The initiative comes at a time when discussions about extending school hours have intensified, particularly in response to increased incidents of violence among school-aged children. However, Browne stressed that the programme’s primary goal is educational enhancement rather than mere supervision.
“This is not an exercise in just seeking to be babysitting children,” he emphasized. “This is about ensuring that we give our young an opportunity to develop holistically.”
He also indicated plans for gradual expansion to the after-school programme.
“We’ll add more days as things go on as we strengthen our systems and our processes, then we will expand. But it has to be carefully done.”
The pilot programme will run until the end of the academic year, after which its effectiveness will be evaluated.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has also opened doors for community involvement by inviting individuals and organisations interested in contributing to the programme to contact either the school principals or the Ministry.
“I’m expecting that our students will apply themselves and continue to perform well,” Browne stated, expressing optimism about the initiative’s potential impact. This optimism comes despite recent challenges, including concerns about student gang-related violence and declining performance in mathematics, with pass rate for CSEC Mathematics dropping from 32.6 percent in 2023 to 28.4 percent in 2024.
