How two teachers turned an entire school around
Amidst the sudden death of teachers, the attacks on educators by students, and the continued migration from the classroom, some school administrators are taking the bull by the horn and are determined to turn around a ramshackled education system.
Such was the case for Melicia Mathison, the principal of Constitution Hill Primary and Infant School in St. Andrew. The school, which is located approximately seven miles from Papine Square, was up for closure in 2010 due to low enrolment. However, Mathison and former principal Winston Smith have led the institution through a transformative journey, making it the school of choice for residents.
According to the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) News, the school’s population has more than tripled, moving from 45 students to 155, largely due to improvements in literacy.
Mathison shared in a recent interview that there were students who were struggling to read. In response, she sought coaching from Creative Language-Based Learning (CLBL) to enhance her ability to engage the students, and since then, four teachers have been trained.
“We utilise it in our offerings and delivery on a daily basis, and we have seen the literacy rate of our students improve. Constitution Hill is a small farming community, meaning everybody knows everybody. We meet at church; we meet at community events; and if you are at church and you know that Child X was not able to read, and all of a sudden, he’s able to read and recite a poem, he’s able to read the Bible at church, then the question is, which school him guh? No, man. Hill school? Sumpm a gwaan; I want my child to be there,” she told JIS News.
Mathison disclosed that in the past, many parents chose not to send their children to the school because they were of the view that the chances of them securing a place at a traditional high school were unlikely.
“Over the years, our literacy rate improved, our passes in GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test) and PEP (Primary Exit Profile) improved and our students are being placed at traditional high schools. Last year, our top student went to Wolmer’s Girls. We have students that have been placed at Immaculate, Jamaica College, Calabar, and these students are doing well. As a result, the community has said, ‘listen, it doesn’t matter where you are’, so that helped to boost the confidence,” she shared.
The Ministry of Education, with the support of the cabinet, had announced 18 schools that were to be closed by September 2015 in order to achieve greater levels of efficiencies in the school s
ystem. The schools were said to be non-viable and had small populations ranging from a low of sixteen (16) to a maximum of sixty-eight (68) students. They were all under-utilised and were in communities where the population had been declining, with a small number of youth and many older persons as residents.
While low population was a major concern then, the issues affecting the nations’ schools are far more complex today. A number of educators, some very young, have died mysteriously in recent years and violence against teachers has risen to frightening levels. Added to that is the fact that many persons no longer deem the profession attractive.
The Freedom Come Rain was informed that at least three educators, including a vice-principal died last weekend. The sudden death of educators continues to shock the education sector. In 2024, the Jamaica Teacher’s Association (JTA) launched an investigation into the matter. The aim of the study was to determine whether there is a correlation between the stress levels of educators and their mental and physical state of being.
One of the factors that is believed to be increasing the stress levels among teachers, is the high levels of violence in schools across the island. Parents and guardians of students at the Kingston High School were informed that classes would be dismissed early on May 12, as only a few staff members showed up for work.
“The low staff turnout may be related to a serious incident that occurred on Friday, May 9, 2025, in which a Grade 7 male student physically assaulted a female teacher. Sadly, this is part of a troubling increase in similar incidents, particularly involving students in Grades 7 through 9. Many staff members have expressed concern and frustration with the growing indiscipline and lack of respect shown by some students,” the school stated in a letter which was seen by the Freedom Come Rain.
The Ministry of Education and Youth had promised that it would be redoubling its efforts to curb violence in schools, using a multiplicity of strategies. Retired educator, and former Assistant Chief Education Officer in the Curriculum Unit in the Ministry of Education and Youth, Dr. Clover Hamilton-Flowers, believes that in addition to all the programmes that are being introduced, spiritual intervention is also important.
“I would also like to put on the table the need for us to pay greater attention to even the spiritual domain. At times we would talk about the cognitive domain, we have spoken to people about their physical development, the social domain, but it is so important for us as well to begin to pay greater attention to the spiritual domain,” she said.
Dr. Hamilton-Flowers, who had worked for many years in the education sector, wants greater focus to be placed on our national pledge and anthem.
“The future for Jamaica is based on us literally upholding some of these values and virtues that we have been proclaiming by way of our national anthem and our school pledges and songs, and the list could go on,” she said.