Some 43,384 students are scheduled to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) on Thursday, March 21 and Friday, March 22, in 1,184 centres across the island.

The students will be tested on areas of the primary-school curriculum, including mathematics, social studies, language arts, science, and communication task.

Chief education officer in the Ministry of Education Grace McLean told a JIS 'Think Tank' on Thursday that all grade-six students were registered under the Ministry of Education national registration system, and that students eligible for the GSAT are drawn from this cohort.

An additional 2,716 students have not mastered the Grade Four Literacy Test after being given four opportunities. These students are still operating below the required grade level and will be transitioned into an appropriate programme, based on their identified learning needs.

The students sitting the examination, with only a few exceptions, for example those who recently migrated to Jamaica and were not able to sit the Grade Four Literacy Test, would have arrived at this point through implementation of the competence-based transition policy, which requires all students to be certified literate in order to be qualified to sit the GSAT.

Schools that will operate as examination centres will be closed on March 21 and 22. The results of the GSAT are scheduled to be released in June.