WWKids Education Conference Targets Jamaica’s Literacy Crisis

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The WWKids Education Conference will return to Kingston’s S Hotel from September 30 to October 2. This year, it will sharpen its focus on the literacy challenges playing out in Jamaican classrooms. Feedback from past attendees and support from the Haskins Global Literacy Hub helped shape the Grades K–11 program around the needs educators are confronting now.

“Many students are entering high school without the foundational reading skills they need to succeed, and this challenge is especially concerning among our boys,” said Simone Sobers, head of the WWKids Foundation.

The education conference will equip educators to identify what drives reading difficulties and spot gaps in phonemic awareness. It will also strengthen instruction in decoding, fluency and comprehension. This includes support for older students whose needs may have gone unaddressed.

Beyond diagnosis, the program will deliver classroom-ready strategies for older struggling readers across subjects, spanning multisyllabic decoding, vocabulary, writing and comprehension support.

Sobers said the conference will also offer “access breakout sessions intentionally designed for Grades 7–11, focused on the literacy, executive functioning, engagement, and classroom needs of older students, including boys who may have been struggling for years.” She added: “High school may not be where the literacy gap begins, but it is not too late to help close it.”

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