Rasbert Turner, Star Writer

A report had to be sent from the Guys Hill High School to the Ministry of Education yesterday after a number of Caribbean School Education Certificate (CSEC) candidates failed to attend exams after angry residents blocked the Dover Castle and Highgate thoroughfare leading to the institution to protest poor road conditions.

"A number of our teachers are from St Mary and other areas outside Guys Hill so they are also absent," a teacher said.

Hundreds of commuters and motorists were stranded along the Dover main road in St Catherine which is the major road used by hundreds of persons.

Fallen trees, stones, iron and other materials were used to block the road from the Dover entrance and similar activities in Windsor Castle, St Mary.

"We need the road to travel on as for too long we have no road. Plus the recent rains cut away weh dem patch up. It is sad dat a examination time and wi can't reach school," a student in a Guys Hill uniform said.

The Dover Castle thoroughfare is the major thoroughfare from Guys Hill to Linstead and motorists are forced to use the Orangefield main road whenever it rains.

It is the second time this year that the road has been blocked following a protest in February.

Meanwhile, communication director at the Ministry of Education, Collin Blair, said he would advise the students to contact the Overseas Examination Commission for redress.

"If they have done the main paper, then they could be graded. If the ministry had early knowledge of the protest the students would have been directed to other schools to sit the examinations," Blair said.