(Jamaica Gleaner) Stunned by an alarming revelation that thousands of functionally illiterate children were promoted to high schools at the start of the new academic year in September, members of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday called the situation a crisis and demanded immediate remedial action from the Ministry of Education.

“You have just placed 10,000 illiterates in first form,” committee Chairman Dr Omar Davies charged, while addressing ministry officials during a sitting of the PAC. The officials included Permanent Secretary Audrey Sewell, Chief Education Officer Jasper Lawrence and Salomie Evering, deputy education officer for curriculum development.

“As far as the Ministry of Education is concerned, we have accepted that there is a crisis,” Sewell conceded.

She said the ministry has introduced a number of initiatives such as increasing the number of reading specialists in schools.

Executives from the ministry were asked to give a response to the high levels of under-performance by students at the secondary level.

Acquiescing that they have promoted students who were non-literate to high schools, the officials pledged to produce a comprehensive plan by November to significantly reduce the levels of illiteracy in secondary and primary schools. Sewell had advised the committee that the ministry was attempting to wipe out the illiteracy rate among students by 2011.