MINISTRY INVESTIGATING REPORT THAT PRINCIPAL HANDLED EXAM PAPERS
OCHO RIOS, St Ann; March 19, 2025
The Ministry of Education is to investigate a report that a principal in a private prep school in St Ann was seen inside an examination room handing out PEP papers on Wednesday. Stakeholders at the school are claiming there was an attempt to have students cheat in the exam.
Students across the island sat the first of two Performance Task examinations –_English Language — in the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. They are to sit the Mathematics Performance Task exam on Thursday. Performance on the PEP determines placement at secondary high schools.
Usually reliable sources told the North Coast Times Wednesday morning that an officer from the Ministry of Education who was at the school checking on the examination procedures was told that the principal had gone to the examination room and was handing out papers. The principal was accompanied by a grade six teacher. The Ministry’s protocols specifically forbid this which could compromise the integrity of the examination results.
The principal was reportedly reprimanded and a report was made to the Regional Offices of the Ministry,
Contacted for comment, a spokesperson from the Ministry’s head office in Kingston told the North Coast Times that there would be an investigation.
A highly placed education official said there had been no contamination and no cheating. The official said it was not clear why the principal had gone to the examination room and that three invigilators had been assigned. The Ministry official said the principal ought not to have gone into the examination room and should not have been handing out or handling examination papers. But the official said there would be an investigation.
