Pat Roxborough, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU -
THE SCRAMBLE for a spot in Jamaica's traditional high schools is as furious as it has ever been, despite the Government's attempt to equalise the status of all schools at the secondary level.
However, principals of a number of the traditional high schools say they cannot grant even a quarter of the requests that are pouring in from parents who want their children to be admitted to these institutions when the new school term begins in September.
"I just had to put my foot down," said Causwell Taylor, the principal of Cornwall College for Boys in Montego Bay. "...I put out the word from last year that we would not be willing to grant transfers and so people have begun to understand that. I have been getting a number of requests from parents, but we don't expect to grant them.
Traditional high schools are defined as those that were established by denominations and trusts before the 1960s. They used to be known as grammar schools. They are different from the newer comprehensive high and secondary schools which will both be reclassified as high schools come September. Those are not, for historical reasons, seen as traditional high schools.
Cornwall College, Montego Bay High, Herbert Morrison Technical High and Mount Alvernia High are considered the top secondary-level schools in Montego Bay. These and other traditional high schools across the island are the ones that many ambitious students leaving the primary school system opt for. Whether or not these students get to go to the school of their choice depends on how well they score on the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), which the Ministry of Education uses to measure their academic progress.
"The children with the highest scores are more likely to be placed in the school of their choice, regardless of their locale," said Edwin Thomas, the Ministry's spokesman last week.
However, each school can only accommodate a limited number of new grade seven students each September.
This year, the Ministry placed 15,334 primary school leavers in the island's traditional high schools. This number accounts for less than half of the 45,159 students who finished their primary education this year.
It means that others - high scorers included - had to be placed at other schools at the secondary level.
Ministry statistics indicate that 19,617 primary school leavers were placed in comprehensive high schools.
Seven thousand and six students were placed in the junior high schools which cater to grades seven through nine and 3,192 in the all-age schools which cater to grades one through nine.
Alternatives to the traditional high schools in St. James include Anchovy Comprehensive High, Maldon Comprehensive High, Cambridge Comprehensive High and Montego Bay Comprehensive High.
Dissatisfaction
The Ministry's placement of children in these schools has resulted in much dissatisfaction on the part of some students and parents, who feel these schools are inferior.
However, the Government is hoping that the perception will change when these, along with the other comprehensive, new secondary and other types of schools at the secondary level, are reclassified as high schools.
But that perception doesn't seem as if it's likely to change overnight as several parents are still angling for their children to get a place in the "top" schools.
Sonia Neil, principal of Munro College, arguably the top school in St. Elizabeth, told The Sunday Gleaner the reason given by the many parents who have been asking her to accept their sons at Munro.
"The requests are coming in from children who have passed to go to the comprehensive high schools," she said "...They say that they are not confident in the academic standard of these schools."
But only two of those parents are likely to have their wishes fulfilled as the Ministry sent 123 new students to the school and Mrs. Neil says she can only accommodate 125 new students.
"Don't put my name in the paper because I wouldn't want to sabotage my child, but, come hell or high water, I am not sending him to that school," said a parent whose child scored high but didn't get to go to the school of choice.
Some parents in Red Hills, St. Andrew complained to The Sunday Gleaner that their children would have to take at least two buses to get to the Excelsior High school on Mountain View Avenue.
They would have preferred their children to go to schools nearer to them like Calabar High, or Meadowbrook High. However, none of these schools are facilitating transfers this year because there is no space.
Captain Lincoln A. Thaxter, principal of Titchfield High School, one of the two traditional high schools in Portland, told The Sunday Gleaner that he had about 70 requests from students who had been placed at Happy Grove High School, the other traditional high school in the parish.
Glenmiur High School's Principal, Clement Radcliffe said his office was flooded with more than 100 requests for transfer to his school, however he'll only be able to accommodate 10.
