KINGSTON, Jamaica — Eighty-one per cent of the 38,579 students who sat the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) this year have been placed in schools of their choice — an increase of eight per cent over 2015.

But the jump comes as a result of two additional school choices being added to the standard five from which students had to select, than in previous years.

“These two additional choices were selected from a cluster of schools that were within a 10-mile radius of their attending schools,” education minister, Senator Ruel Reid, announced at a press conference at the ministry today.

At the same time, 16 per cent of the students were placed based on proximity to the schools they now attend, and three per cent were placed manually based on where they live.

Thirty-four thousand four hundred and twenty-six were placed in high schools, 3,270 in technical schools, and 1,051 in primary and junior high schools. Nine students were placed in special schools.

Alphea Saunders