By Devon Evans, Freelance WriterOCHO RIOS, St. Ann:
THE MINISTRY of Education says the long-awaited results of the Grade Nine Achievement Test will be made available to the public today.
Wesley Barrett, Chief Education Officer, disclosed on Wednesday that the results were ready to be delivered to the various junior high schools and that parents would be informed of the results by today.
LAMENTED
His statement was in response to a question from Byron Farquharson, a former president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, who lamented the long delay in notifying students of the results of the examination.
Speaking at a session of the 38th annual conference of the JTA at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande Resort, Ocho Rios, Mr. Farquharson said that with the re-opening of schools almost one week away, parents still did not know what preparations to make for their children who sat the exam.
He said that up to last week Friday when he checked with the Ministry of Education, no one could say when the results would be ready.
UNFAIR
"My point is, I think it is unfair, almost wicked, for students whose future is so delicately poised, to be kept in a guessing game, almost just a week before schools re-open".
Apologising for the lateness of the Grade Nine Achievement Test results, Mr. Barrett said: "I am going to ask the schools to explain to the parents that we were pretty slow, but we will have the results by weekend; at least, the parents should know by weekend."
He assured the teachers that the results would be out much sooner than this next year.
