A deficit of almost 4,000 grade seven spaces in high schools for 2007/2008, could create more space problems for GSAT students this September, a government-appointed team that reviewed the GSAT process has predicted.

“We know that the number of students for placement against the real supply of school spaces will only grow worse in the 2007 academic year,” said the team’s report to the minister last October.

“As best as we can ascertain, the deficit for 2007 will be between 3,000 and 4,000 spaces,” the GSAT review team reported.

“Once again, the greatest challenge shall be in Region Six (Clarendon and St Catherine). We, therefore, recommend an immediate task force, including the CEO and regional directors, be constituted to proactively address this matter,” the team reported.

The level of the team’s fear of problem arising at the start of the new school year in September was also expressed in members recommending that a less than ideal process of finding space, known as ‘growing of schools’, as was done last year by regional director for Region Six Dr Fitz Russell, be considered as an interim, short-term and practical response.

‘Growing of schools’ refers to an emergency to address the severe shortage of grade seven spaces in the region’s high schools by temporarily assigning the GSAT students to spaces in all-age and junior high schools, which are a level or more below high schools.

The team warned, however, that additional resources, including teachers and equipment would have to be provided for these schools to improve their facilities to meet the challenge.

However, members of the team admitted that the practice was contrary to official Ministry of Education and Youth policy. They said that having ‘grown’ a high school from an all-age or primary school also created serious concerns about the dislocation of the primary-level cohort in those institutions and how it would be accommodated by the system.

The committee made the recommendation although Dr Russell’s initiative led to the ministry’s chief education officer issuing a “cease and desist” order on his actions last year.

It found that the issuing of the order not only dampened Dr Russell’s “considerable” enthusiasm for finding immediate solutions to the space shortage problem in Region 6, but also contributed to the delay in the publication of the GSAT results last year which they attributed to the space problem.

The team also found that it was not only Dr Russell who had attempted this solution to the space crisis, although he was the only one who labelled his actions (as ‘growing of schools’). It said ‘identical’ action was taken by all the other directors with one exception.