Beginning in 2026, grade-six students taking the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams will face fewer testing days with Mathematics and Language Arts assessments, as they will be condensed into single-day sittings under new changes.
This was announced by Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, during a Back-to-School Conference for Principals and Vice-Principals from Region 2 (Portland, St Thomas and St Mary), held at Hideaway at Royalton Blue Water in Falmouth, Trelawny, on July 15.
“For the grade-six PEP, we’re going to collapse the exams together. So, this means you do all of your Mathematics on one day and all of your Language Arts on one day,” Morris Dixon outlined.
Moreover, the exam timeline is being shifted from February to the months of April and May to give educators more time to deliver the curriculum to students ahead of the exams, said the Minister.
She noted that these changes are not a complete overhaul of the PEP structure but are immediate, manageable “low hanging” adjustments that aim to reduce stress, while improving the learning and teaching experience for students and teachers, respectively.