Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Education and Youth is to increase the number of markers for the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), in an effort to meet the June deadline for the results.

Come Thursday and Friday, grade six students across the island will sit the GSAT, which replaced the Common Entrance Examinations in 1999.

According to Sephlin Myers-Thomas, assistant chief education officer in the Student Assessment Unit of the ministry, the number of students sitting the examination this year has increased to 53,709 students, up from 51,204.

This, she said, has forced the ministry to hire an additional 30 markers, bringing to about 150 the number of persons who will be grading the papers this year.

Mrs. Myers-Thomas said the Ministry of Education and Youth has one week in which to mark the papers. Education officers will participate in the process, while other personsare in the process of being contracted to assist the ministry.

Placement problems

The GSAT results are usually ready in June. However, most schools did not get their results on time last year, as the ministry was having problems finding space for some 3,800 students in Region Six, which includes the parishes of St. Catherine and Clarendon.

Maxine Henry-Wilson the Minister of Education, recently assured Parliament that there will not be a recurrence of last year's fiasco.

With respect to the timely publication of GSAT results, she said the ministry has worked on a detailed delivery schedule with all the parties involved, including the persons who are responsible for the processing of the data. She said a team led by the permanent secretary had been appointed to monitor the implementation.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Myers-Thomas told The Gleaner yesterday that things were set for the examinations.

"Things are going very well. We are ready," she said, noting that the ministry's six regions have started collecting the examination papers to distribute to schools.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com