By Ramesh Sujanani
Op-Ed Contributor

I refer to April 23, Observer, in which a prominent educator speaks out against Jamaica’s GSAT examinations.

I am always concerned when persons with knowledge of a subject turn to the government for a solution. This is what happened the last time, when Common Entrance was replaced by GSAT in Jamaica. I would have liked to have asked the principal of Cornwall to propose a solution, or to consider the enclosed selection.

I have always had the view that GSAT is a difficult examination, and intended for the academically strong. Years ago, when my children were doing Common Entrance, the paper was pointed out as being too difficult.

But this change was even more difficult. It now takes two days instead of one to complete the various papers, and it creates severe pressure on students, who may be pressed for study time.

Then it takes around three months to mark and grade, while high schools and students wait with frustration.

What, then, is needed? There are two sets of basic requirements:

1. Jamaica’s schools need to ensure that students meet an educational standard to enter a high school, that this is a uniform and comprehensive standard, and that students can pay the other bills and pay for books, special studies, and sports.

2. The government needs to ensure that all students eligible in the system are given an equal opportunity to enter a high school that is accessible and feasible. Finally, it must be ensured that there are no excessive costs beyond students’ reach.

Then there is one other problem: the examinations are difficult, and we find that the top 15 percent of students in Jamaica are the ones who are able to secure preferred places at high schools.

When we look at the curriculum, there are examinations in Civics and exams on subjects in the periphery. Science is one which takes away students’ time. There are only two subjects that students needs at this stage: English Language and Mathematics.

Having said, that I am also pointing out that these subjects have changed with progressive difficulty. Mathematics now includes simple trigonometry, graphs, and calculus, in addition to arithmetic, algebra and geometry.

English language would now comprise grammar, composition, some literature to promote comprehension, précis and other new applications.

This is quite enough for an eleven-year student. If students are good at Maths and English, then it is likely that they would be good at other subjects.

So we further reduce the complexities of the exam to make passing easier for most students — but we do need English and Maths at some uniform acceptable standard.

But is an examination necessary? Jamaica’s schools need to know that they are starting at some point of uniformity and what they have to work with, and accordingly set their high school syllabus so it encompasses all the other subjects. At one time, I recall that schools were setting their own entrance examinations.

Where do we go from here? Stay with Maths and English at an acceptable level, and our passes will increase, because the emphasis would now be on only two basic subjects.

Would this be satisfactory to everyone? Indeed, some schools would say that they had not gotten their quota of brighter students.

Let the school then set a selection exam, which could be taken just after the common examination, allowing the teachers to decide for each school, or among schools, or one common advanced paper of a selected composition. That would create a further choice of above-average students.

The final selection would become the problem of the teachers, who would decide whom they wanted, or they could let the government, through the Ministry of Education, set examinations, and make the selection with recommendations from the teachers.

And the costs? Jamaica’s Minister of Education has stated that the primary responsibility for school expenses belongs to parents. So an additional examination to justify the ambition of parents and their children would have to be paid for by the parents.

Of course, there is another problem – Jamaica needs to build more high schools.

Ramesh K Sujanani can be reached at rsujanani78@gmail.com.

Note: the opinions expressed in Caribbean Journal Op-Eds are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Caribbean Journal.