Split them up! Call for boys and girls to be separated at primary school level

Amid celebrations surrounding the 2026 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) results which were released on Monday, president of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), Stewart Jacobs, believes there can be better results if boys and girls are separated at the primary level.

The PEP assessments are used to determine students’ readiness for secondary education and their placement in high schools. According to Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, girls outperformed boys overall. However, seven boys were in the top 10 students nationally. Jacobs said the wider figures are not alarming but argued that boys require a different approach to learning, if improved outcomes are to be achieved. While encouraging boys to remain focused, he reiterated his belief that teaching methods should be tailored to their needs.

“Look at what your sister and cousin are doing, but it’s not just the boys. It’s also the teachers. It’s how you deal with them, how you embrace them. The hormones will kick in quicker before there is a change in the voice and with the other influences, the method of how you teach boys must be regulated differently. They’re two different species, well, one species and two different [ways of] thinking,” he said.

However, Sharon Coburn Robinson, principal director, Bureau of Gender Affairs, said that separation at the primary level is not a ‘fix’ for boys’ academic underperformance. Research conducted across Jamaica and the wider Caribbean has consistently identified the root causes of male underachievement as socio-cultural, not structural. 

“There is a body of neuroscience literature that documents differences in brain development between boys and girls, particularly in the maturation of the prefrontal cortex, the region governing executive function, decision-making, and self-regulation. Boys’ prefrontal cortex tends to develop later, which may affect their capacity to self-regulate in classroom environments designed around extended periods of focused, sedentary work. This is not a deficit; it is a developmental reality that needs to be ‘factored in’ during formal instruction,” she said.

She added that, “Separating boys into single-sex classrooms does not disrupt that socialisation, it merely removes girls from the equation. There is a legitimate concern that sex-segregated primary education could reinforce rather than dismantle harmful gender norms. When we institutionally separate boys and girls at the formative stage of development, we risk sending the message that the boys and girls cannot coexist, collaborate, or compete on equal terms.”

Still, Jacobs told THE STAR that separating boys and girls is particularly important in schools facing behavioural challenges.

“You go into that school and you separate the boys from the girls and teach them differently, approach subject areas differently, give them different time off that will create an atmosphere for them to think differently for themselves,” he said.

Jacobs further argued that girls generally mature more quickly than boys and, as a result, often perform better academically by grasping things quicker. 

“When you look at the top performing [high] schools, most of them are single gender schools, not co-ed. When you separate, boys concentrate amongst themselves, they do better,” Jacobs insisted. But Coburn Robinson believes the fix is dependent on the enrolment of gender differentiated teaching methods. 

“We recommend the repositioning of the teaching and learning process to include innovative strategies such as active, peer-to-peer learning and small group interaction, project-based learning, mentorship programmes and other culturally  responsive methodologies which cater to ‘multiple intelligences’. Teachers also need to be flexible enough to cater to gender-differentiated learning for improved competence and mastery, particularly among boys.  This also includes individual attention for at-risk male students,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jacobs expressed satisfaction with the 2026 PEP results, pointing to improvements in students securing placement at their preferred schools and gains in key subject areas.

“We see where mathematics and language have grown. I also like the literacy and numeracy testing in the exam, and that was fantastic,” he said.

He noted that the current cohort is the last group significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He also pointed to the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which displaced thousands of students. In particular, Jacobs highlighted Jassonia Beadle, head girl of Park Mountain Primary and Infant School in St Elizabeth, who attained the top national score. The parish was one of the hardest hit by the storm.

“So, overall [I like] the new approach to PEP, with a breakdown of your child’s performance over the period, so you can see where your child is at going into high school and where the challenges are, and that makes it not a big thing which school they go to,” he said.