Students at Airy Castle Primary School in St Thomas, which has been without electricity since a fire razed an entire block at the institution a month ago, will not have to travel to neighbouring schools to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test today as Principal Dawn Graham had feared.

In an article published in Career & Education this past Sunday, Graham said sitting the test in an unfamiliar environment and surrounded by unfamiliar faces would add to the tension of the exam itself and could impact negatively on the students’ performance.

However, yesterday, Deputy Chief Education Officer Dorrett Campbell told the

Jamaica Observer that, with the approval of the Jamaica Public Service Company, arrangements were made for the school to access electricity from a neighbouring commercial entity for the two days of the test.

“We gave the parents two options,” she said. “One was that we would bus the students to Port Morant Primary and Junior High, or we would make arrangements to access electricity from next door on a temporary basis to facilitate the test…they chose the second option.”

Asked when electricity would be permanently restored, Campbell said it hinged on investigations into the cause of the blaze, technical assessment of the extent of the damage and repairs to be effected, among other things.

“That in itself takes time; it’s not just a reconnection,” she said.

Thirty-eight students of Airy Castle are registered to sit the test today and on Friday. Islandwide, the number is just over 39,000.