500 students yet to receive GSAT timetable
Published:Wednesday | March 23, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Writer
Close to 500 students are yet to receive their timetables to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) which will be administered tomorrow and Friday.
Chief Education Officer Grace McLean made the disclosure yesterday during a press conference convened at the ministry's Heroes Circle head office in Kingston.
Education Minister Andrew Holness was, however, quick to point out that the ministry was working to narrow down to two per cent the number of students without timetables by today.
McLean said the students who have not received the examination instrument included children who were either transferred from various schools, have been home schooled, or have been transferred from overseas.
2,000 facing challenges
She added that there were some 2,000 students who faced challenges this year before the ministry addressed some of the cases.
"We went through a very intensive process this year," McLean said. "We started the national registration in September of last year. We had the data entered, we sent out the list to all the schools between January and early February. We asked the schools to verify the information. Once we got back that verification from the schools, we prepared the timetables based on that verification."
She added: "What we have found out is that it is clear that not much attention was paid to the verification and it is now that we have sent out the individual timetables and students have not received their timetables, then the alarm is being created."
In the meantime, the ministry has announced that everything is in place for a smooth running of the GSAT.
"We are confident that we have everything in place to have smooth operations of our exams on the 24th and the 25th," permanent secretary in the ministry, Audrey Sewell, said.
"So far we have sent out the packages to two regions. Today packages will go out to two and tomorrow to one region, so from our end we are prepared," she added.
Some 43,000 students will be sitting the examination at 1,100 centres across the island.
Sewell said the students sitting the exam were registered on the newly implemented national register system, which has cut costs and proven to be more efficient.
"We are pleased to announce that the national registration system is up and running and has significantly supported our registration for GSAT," she said.
"We have seen where that has improved our efficiency in terms of how we capture data for the GSAT registration," she added.
Tackling the test: tips
The following are tips from the Ministry of Education for parents and students on handling the stress of GSAT:
- Parents should remain calm.
- Parents are being encouraged to support, rather than pressure their children in light of the upcoming GSAT examination.
- Parents should focus on positive words in the eventuality that the child has negative perceptions prior to the examination.
- Parents or guardians should help GSAT students refocus if they have doubts.
- GSAT students should be well rested before the examination.
- Parents should not hover at the examination centres.
- Students should be confident in themselves.