GSAT JOY
Published:Friday | June 18, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Writer
TENS OF thousands of students across Jamaica will finally be free of hand-wringing, hair-pulling anxiety when they find out the results of the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) which are scheduled to be released today.
Suspense will likely morph into elation for most, as Colin Blair, communications director at the Ministry of Education, confirmed yesterday that the 2010 grades were an improvement over last year's. Blair also sought to assure that there was sufficient space in the high-school system to accommodate all students who sat the exam.
Despite the nerves, however, students expressed confidence on Thursday that they were well on their way to gaining spots in choice schools.
School administrators and teachers shared similar enthusiasm, saying that although they were a bit tense, they knew the students would make them proud.
At Windward Road Primary School in Kingston, students juggled attention between taking photographs for their graduation package and hoping to get word of the results from their teachers.
"They are excited now because they are taking pictures, but they continued to ask when they will get the results," said grade-six teacher Esmie Crawford.
Vice-principal Noel Pennant, who seemed confident that the students would be successful, said the school had done its best, with help from devoted parents.
"We tried to get the parents involved in the students' work because we saw the need for parents' involvement and they have been working with us, and so we expect that what we normally get, in terms of traditional high schools, should be higher compared with last year," he boasted.
Both Rennay McDermoth and Kabrina Martin, who the vice-principal labelled top students, told The Gleaner they knew their hard work would help the kids gain a places at Campion College, one of the island's elite high schools.
Teachers found it hard to control students at Half-Way Tree Primary School in St Andrew as they awaited the results.
"I can't get them to settle down, as they are too anxious. The minute I leave the classroom and return, they want to know if I have the results," said Paula McLaughlin, a grade-six teacher.
Though harbouring hopes of academic excellence, McLaughlin conceded that some results might be below par because of the mixed abilities of students.
It was no different at Jessie Ripoll Primary, where teachers and students waited patiently to see the outcome of their hard work.
Carlos McMaster, Jessie Ripoll's top student, was supremely optimistic yesterday that he would score above 90 per cent, which would book him a ticket to the co-ed Ardenne High.
Claudette Fennell, a teacher at St Richard's Primary, boasted that the institution was expected to maintain its place among the top public-schools, which earned St Richard's up to three scholarships per year.
Even the parents were uneasy. Verona Hunt, mother of Trina-Gaye Campbell, a student at Bermaddy Primary School in Linstead, St Catherine, told The Gleaner that she was waiting to exhale.
Yesterday, president of the National Parent-Teacher Associa-tion of Jamaica, Miranda Sutherland, said the organisation had projected improved grades over last year's based on the Ministry of Education's literacy thrusts.
"We anticipate the best results since GSAT started because of the level of work that the ministry is doing," she said.
But while the official results will be released today, those wishing to see the list of scholarship winners will have to wait about two weeks.
The GSAT results will determine the grade-seven placements assigned to all 48,200 candidates who sat the examination on March 25 and 26. The students were from 797 public and 207 private schools. Included in the number are 17 children who were homeschooled.