IN JAMAICA: GSAT Clarity... Minister Says Majority Of Students Will Get Their Choice Schools (AUDIO)

The Education Ministry has issued a statement seeking to assure that the majority of students who sat the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) this year will be placed in the high schools of their choice based on their performance.

Grade six students of Calabar Infant, Primary and Junior
High School in Kingston celebrate the end of the Grade Six
Achievement Test. The Education Ministry says the majority
of students who sat the Test this year will be placed in the
 high schools of their choice based on their performance,
 but the others will be manually placed in schools
near their homes.

However, the ministry said GSAT students who are not assigned to any of the institutions of their choice will be manually placed in schools near their homes.

According to the Education Minister, Ronald Thwaites, the new manual placement policy will affect about 15 per cent of the GSAT cohort. The Education Minister offered the clarification this afternoon as concerns mounted over a JIS release on the weekend that the ministry was moving to place GSAT students in schools near their homes to reduce travel time and expenses.

Today, he restated, however that many parents find it very expensive to send students to schools far away from their homes, resulting in about 20 per cent of them with very poor attendance records.  According to the Ministry, in some cases, children’s attendance is limited to three days per week and schools have been concerned about how their learning is affected.

GSAT results are expected to be released next week.    more