The Editor, Sir:

It seems to me that our Ministry of Education could become inadvertently guilty of blocking some of its achievements by its falling into the yearly traps of 'back-to-school' irrational thinking and unrealistic expectations.

Unlike the historical problems of yesteryear, we are this year faced with the challenges of schools not yet being built, and in which GSAT students were placed.

Some of us may have smiled or otherwise laughed at the ministry's embarrassing dilemma, but for the parents and their children assigned to the two schools in question, the issue is no joke.

We may not be able to understand adequately the emotional distress and anxiety which both children and parents are likely to have had from the date of the examination to the date of the results being published, but such conditions are a reality. Any parent who has had to deal with his or her child not being placed in either the child's school of first choice or its equivalent of equal standard, knows how devastating it can be to the child's psyche and well-being. It is, therefore, not difficult to recognise the trauma of dealing with a prospective school that has not yet been built.

It should not be and must not be 'business as usual' for those technocrats (who up to the time when the GSAT results were released) were telling us that the schoolsand all whom would dwell therein would be ready for occupancy in September 2007. Nothing may, however, happen, because whenever things of this nature occur, there are neither consequences nor accountability for such failures. I am sure that this inconvenience to parents, students and others affected directly and indirectly must be at a cost, and when one is poor, such a burden must be greater, considering that options are few and possibly limited.

I believe that what our country needs more of (especially in the public sectors) are people who can think critically and who ought to possess the ability to make high-quality, positive and sound decisions where and when it matters.

I am, etc.,

SONIA CHRISTIE

Trelawny