Approximately 80 students at the Pembroke Hall Primary School in St Andrew are to resit the Grade Four Literacy Test after their test papers were not identified by the education ministry.

The students are yet to receive results, and the Ministry of Education yesterday placed the blame at the feet of the adminis-trators of the school.

"Because the proper procedure was not followed by the school in the case of the 80 children from Pembroke Hall, their scripts cannot now be identified," the education ministry said in response to questions from The Gleaner.

However, sources close to the administration of the school are challenging this claim while arguing that the ministry should shoulder the blame.

According to the education ministry, schools across the island have received the results for the more than 41,000 students who sat the literacy test earlier this year.

The ministry said the only exception was Pembroke Hall, where students who were not registered for the test have not received their results.

"On the day before the examination, the ministry was informed that Pembroke Hall had 80 more students sitting the examination than had been registered. The ministry, in a bid to facilitate the children, allowed them to sit the examination," claimed the education ministry.

Not properly labelled

It said when a child registers for the examination, an identification label with the child's name, number and other data is used to identify his or her script.

In the case of the 80 students, their scripts were not properly labelled and now cannot be identified.

The ministry said it was going to register the children and would allow them to resit the literacy test as soon as the school made the arrangements.

Yesterday, Norma McNeil, principal of Pembroke Hall Primary, confirmed that the 80 students were yet to get their results and that plans were being put in place for a resit.

McNeil said a meeting slated for yesterday afternoon would confirm the date and time for the resit.

She offered "no comment" when questioned about the education ministry's claim that the school had failed to register the children on time.

However, persons close to the administration of the school were more critical as they claimed the registration of all the children had been submitted at the same time.

They argued that the education ministry had bungled and was trying to shift the blame.

In its official results, published following the literacy test, the education ministry reported that 133 of the 204 grade-four students at Pembroke Hall had sat the test. According to the ministry, 71 per cent of those achieved mastery, 23 per cent near mastery, while six per cent were listed as non-mastery.

The ministry has indicated that the report will be adjusted to reflect the results of the resit.

The 80 affected children have been promoted to grade five.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com