Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
ST. GEORGE'S College, which spent 153 years as an all-male school, will on Monday welcome its first batch of female students when 42 young ladies start attending classes in its sixth form.
The male students got a taste of what things will be like under the new changes yesterday when the young ladies came for registration.
According to Dr. Fred Kennedy, principal of the school, the move to include young ladies followed an expansion of the school's sixth form. He said the expansion resulted from a number of factors.
EXCELLENT PASSES
Among them were St. George's excellent passes in recent external exams, which meant more boys were eligible for sixth form. It also included a plan by the school to take advantage of a proposal from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, that suggested that sixth forms can begin offering associate degrees allowing students to accumulate credits for tertiary educational institutions.
"We needed to expand so we could offer the full range of subjects," Dr. Kennedy said.
He added that the now co-educational sixth form, which now has about 156 students or double its original number, will have other benefits as well.
"Seeing that this is a pre-university programme, we felt the boys would benefit from socialisation with girls," he said. "A lot of the girls also came from girls schools so they also welcomed the opportunity to socialise."
However, an estimated 60 students will not be able to enjoy the benefits at St. George's. Their applications for sixth form were turned down because the school could not accommodate them.
In recent times, Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson has lamented the lack of adequate space in sixth form to accommodate students. An estimated 5,000 students, half of the targeted number, are currently in sixth forms. Mrs. Henry-Wilson said there was need for at least 5,000 more spaces in sixth form. An audit into school places is to be released next week.
