FOR most students entering high school for the first time in a couple of weeks, the experience can be quite daunting.

Many feel intimidated by the sheer volume and difficulty of the schoolwork they will be required to master. But not so for Kuti Mahakoe, who will be among the first formers entering Jamaica College.

The difference is that this 12-year-old has already done what it takes most students five years of high school to achieve — he has six subjects in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations under his belt.

“It wasn’t hard,” the soft-spoken youngster, who has been homeschooled along with his two sisters by his mother Kamau Mahakoe at their home in Greater Portmore, St Catherine, told Career & Education of his achievement.

Kuti earned a grade one — the highest grade — in human and social biology; grade two in biology and English A; and grade three in mathematics, geography and social studies.

His 15-year-old sister Tchakamau, who is entering fifth form at Immaculate Conception High School, earned three subjects, a grade one in human and social biology and a grade two in geography and social studies.

What makes Kuti’s accomplishment even more amazing is the fact that it was done only three months after completing his Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) — his performance in which earned him a place at Jamaica College.

Kuti’s GSAT scores were 96 per cent, 96 per cent, 95 per cent, and 91 per cent in social studies, science, language arts, and mathematics respectively and eight out of 12 for communication

task — scores that are achieved by hundreds of high-performing children throughout the country.

His mother teaches CSEC extra lessons to high school students in the community, and uses the prescribed school textbooks and CSEC syllabus in preparing them as well as her own children.

“While he was preparing for the GSAT, he was preparing for the CSEC (exams). Most students prepare for CSEC in two years, he did it in one,” Mahakoe emphasised.

She had intended to homeschool Kuti through high school, but changed her mind on her son’s request.

“I want to see what it is like,” Kuti told Career & Education about the prospect of going to regular school for the first time.

“Jamaica College is a very good school which is on a mission to upgrade itself. We’re excited about that to see how well he will do,” his mother added.

Kuti’s performance in CSEC in the same year as the GSAT rekindles the debate about the GSAT being too difficult for 10- to 12-year-old children — notwithstanding the fact that some average in the high nineties in the crucial placement exam.

But Mahakoe insists that more children need to be challenged to achieve their full potential.

“We need to push ourselves to do more than what is expected. That’s how we evolve as humans. We should never settle for the norm. I totally disagree that the GSAT syllabus is too difficult. In fact, we can demand even more to see how we can go,” she said.

Mahakoe and her husband Omari, who teaches at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts, have their children on a strict schedule, but it does not mean they don’t have time to relax.

Class for Kuti starts early at 6:00 am. He takes a break at 8:30, then has regular classes until 1:00 pm, after which he is free until another class in the evening.

“He was very co-operative and focused. He didn’t complain at all,” Mahakoe said of her son’s preparation for GSAT and CSEC earlier this year. “He still had time for play and the Internet, to watch TV, chat and do whatever he wanted.”

Kuti’s achievement would seem to strengthen the view that at least some of Jamaica’s brighter children are not being challenged enough, and that some can be prepared to sit a few CSEC exams after only two years in high school.

Acclaimed mathematics teacher Dr Sam McDaniel is an advocate of this position, and is embarking on a two-year experiment to prepare 60 brilliant youngsters just beginning first form to sit CSEC math by June 2013.