NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Corporal Tomielee Chambers from the Elletson Road Police
Station escorts students from the Elletson Primary School to a police bus after the students sat the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) at the Jessie Ripoll Primary School on South Camp Road in Kingston. The students had to be re-routed to that examination centre because of the recent outbreak of crime in the area near the Elletson Road Primary School.
Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
MANY GRADE six students across the island can now breathe a sigh of relief as the long awaited Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), which they spent months preparing for, is now over.
But for some, attending that intense test meant overcoming more than an academic obstacle. They also had to overcome the violence in their communities.
Michael Brown, principal of Elletson Primary School in Kingston, told The Gleaner that only 85 per cent of the students who registered for the examinations actually sat them. Mr. Brown said that he suspects that the others were absent because they had migrated to other communities because of the upsurge in violence.
On just one day, six people were shot to death on Bryden Street in east Kingston recently. As a result, many have fled the community.
The violence affected attendance at the school but the students were transferred to the Jessie Rippol Primary School, where they sat the examination.
The principal said that the examinations went "beautifully" and the students adjusted and did their best.
The police helped out by escorting students to the examinations centre.
Corporal Tomielee Chambers, co-ordinator of the police community relations department for the area said students were picked up near the school and brought to the examination centre on Thursday and Friday.
She explained that the students were not picked up at the school because, "they did not want to bring back any memories."
The Gleaner spoke with several grade six students of Elleston Primary after the examination and all were in high spirits.
"It wasn't hard because my teacher taught me all of the things that came on the exam", said Nickel Baker, who said he wants to go to Kingston College .
"It was very easy," Tanique Johnson said with a huge smile. "I think I did well and I was fully prepared."
June Dixon and Dwayne Lawn echoed the same views.
