MINISTER of Transport, Works and Housing and Member of Parliament for South St Andrew Dr Omar Davies has awarded several students in his constituency who received high scores in the recent Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

Mackaio McCarthy, who received the highest score in the constituency, got the Delvin ‘Sarge’ Grant Memorial Scholarship valued at $50,000. He scored 100 per cent in mathematics, 97 per cent in science, 97 per cent in social studies, 99 per cent in language arts and 12/12 in communication tasks.

He will attend Campion College.

The South St Andrew Education Awards were presented at Knutsford Court Hotel on July 25.

McCarthy, who attended Iris Gelly Primary School, said he felt honoured to have been chosen by Dr Davies for the scholarship.

“I worked very hard and I think I deserved it,” the boy said. “I want to become a neurosurgeon because I think there is more need for neurosurgeons in the world.”

Forty seven other GSAT students got scholarships valued at $30,000 each, and 15 students at the tertiary level got grants.

Dr Davies said he has made education first priority for South St Andrew.

“With sustained implementation of a myriad of social intervention programmes including parenting workshops, major schools in the constituency report increased attendance and better overall performance in GSAT and CXC examinations,” he said.

“The students awarded today are testimony to the success of the programmes we have implemented, and their achievement demonstrates the immense potential which lies within residents of the constituency.”