‘Accept schools where children are assigned’

Acting Senior Education Officer /Assessment and Evaluation in the Ministry of Education Elaine Olliverre is asking parents to not reject{{more}} the secondary schools to which their children are assigned.

Addressing the media on Wednesday morning, Olliverre stated that parents should think hard about the appropriateness of the school to which their child is assigned.

Outlining the procedure used to place children in secondary schools, Ollivierre noted that students are assigned to schools based on their place in the Common Entrance Examination and the parents’ choices. The students in the top 500 places will be assigned first according to their first choices, or second choices if there is no more space at the school listed as their first choice.

“For the rest of the students, it will depend on their position and where they live. We have a lot of parents already coming to ask to have their children placed at particular schools. We cannot guarantee anyone a place at any particular school,” Ollivierre said.

She added that parents should not reject the school in which their children are placed, adding that all schools across St. Vincent and the Grenadines are efficiently staffed and equipped with proper resources to cater for the children. Ollivierre added that transfers will only be done if the student is changing his or her place of residence or for medical reasons.

Ollivierre added that parents should check with their child’s primary school as the information on which school the child will be attending will be sent to that school.

Also speaking at the press conference, Minister of Education Girlyn Miguel expressed how elated she is at this year’s common entrance results.

Stating that the results have improved from previous years, Miguel added that the government will continue to assist the schools in ensuring that each child acquires the skills necessary to do his or her work and that each student and learning institution is provided with appropriate and necessary resources for the child to complete his or her education.

Miguel also commended the students on their achievements and encouraged those who did not meet the required standard to “build on your areas of strength and continue to work on your weak areas.”

For this year’s Common Entrance exam, the highest scores in each exam were 98.33% for General Paper, scored by T’Keymah Williams of Kingstown Preparatory School. Abigail Scott of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic scored 94.09% the highest for English.

Several persons scored 100% for Maths, including Luka Lyttle and Mikhallia Matthias of the Kingstown Preparatory School, Rickisha David and Addison Edwards of Belmont Government, Andreka Samuel of RoseHall Government, Jaylon Scott and Tracia John of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic, Rukersha John of Windsor Primary, Zenique Cuffy of Georgetown Primary and Travis Waterman of Summit Educational Trust.