FROM LEFT: Michelle Wilson-Reynolds, senior VP, group marketing, Victoria Mutual Building Society; Winsome Callum, head corporate communication, Jamaica Public Service Company, and Audrey Hinchcliffe, CEO Manpower Maintenance Services Ltd, delve into their copies of Education 2020. - Photos by Colin Hamilton / Freelance Photographer

PRINCIPALS IN a number of upgraded high schools and some traditional high schools are refusing to accept blame for the dismal results in the 2006 and the 2007 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams in English language and mathematics.

In the exams, some upgraded high schools such as St Anne's and Robert Lightbourne recorded no passes in math and English.

The Gleaner's Education 2020 editorial project, which ranks high schools according to their performance in the two subjects, showed that traditional high schools, including Campion College, Immaculate Conception, St Andrew, Wolmer's Girls and Ardenne, continue to perform well.

They top a list of 55 schools in English.

For math, the first four remain at the top while Wolmer's Boys rank among the first five for that subject.

At least two educators want the government to take a critical look at primary level education, as some students who sit the GSAT exams are said to be entering upgraded high schools illiterate.

Several principals interviewed by The Gleaner yesterday concede that the quality of students being placed in some upgraded schools poses a serious challenge to teachers who have to carry out remedial lessons in English language and math.

More in tomorrow's Gleaner. See related item in today's editorial section