KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) got off the ground Thursday morning with a number of schools reporting a smooth start to the national high school entrance examination.

“Everything went smoothly and without incident,” said Yvonne Webster, the acting principal of Half-Way-Tree Primary.

She was one of several school officials who gave their reaction as students from across the island gathered at their various institutions.

At Dunrobin Preparatory Karen Golbourne, principal of the school shared similar sentiments.

“As part of preparations we had a special prayer session with students and parents before the exams,” said the principal.

At nearby Dunrobin Primary as the morning wore on, parents gathered outside of the school compound in a show of support for their children. “There were no reports of any incident, said Dunrobin Primary principal Noel Watt.

The Ministry of Education in a statement a short while ago reported that its officials spread across 1,135 centres islandwide assisted with the smooth start to the first of the two-day sitting.

In Montego Bay, 12 students turned up for the exam although they were not registered, but they were accommodated, the Education Ministry said.

Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites visited three Corporate Area schools and offered prayers and words of encouragement to students.

Today students are being assessed in Mathematics and Social Studies. And on Friday they will sit Language Arts, Science and Communication Tasks.