Education Minister Andrew Holness says Government plans to introduce performance-based contracts for principals as part of an effort to eliminate illiteracy at the primary level.

Though unable to say just when the contracts would be put in effect, Holness said they had become necessary as he was still not satisfied with the quality of leadership in several schools across the island.

"Note, I did not say performance-based pay. I am not in support of that in the education system," Holness told The Gleaner after yesterday's post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

"I said performance-based contracts. In other words, their pay will remain the same but, if they don't meet the targets, it's another thing."

Holness said the leadership of schools have to be held accountable when they graduate illiterates.

He noted that approximately 20 per cent of the students who sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) each year leave primary schools illiterate or semi-literate.

Principals accountable

Holness said his target was to ensure that by 2015 all students leaving primary schools would be literate and principals would be the ones held accountable if that timeline was not met.

"There is a view that we are being hard on the institutional leadership but, the truth of the matter is, while we acknowledge that parents are responsible and that communities are responsible, who do I have direct control over? Who can the ministry hold accountable?" asked Holness.

"We don't have the legal framework just yet to hold parents accountable for literacy, but there is a legal framework to hold principals, school leadership and teachers accountable," he argued.

According to Holness, the education ministry will provide schools with the necessary resources, including additional literacy and numeracy specialists.

Centres of excellence

He said the performance-based contracts would be introduced initially for principals of new schools which are to be operated under a scheme called Centres of Excellence.

The main objective of these Centres of Excellence will be to meet and exceed the standards set for secondary institutions.

Holness said this was the first step by the education ministry to increase the number of secondary schools where parents will want their children to attend.

At present, more than 40,000 students who sit the GSAT annually apply for the 12,000 places in the island's 50 top-performing secondary schools.

However, Holness said the new schools being built under the Centres of Excellence programme, and improvements at other secondary schools, should create the climate which will widen the number of institutions that are attractive to students leaving the primary level.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com