Senior Director of Human Resource and Modernisation in the Ministry, Ruth Morris, explained to JIS News that under the policy, no child who is illiterate, will be allowed to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT). "All children transitioning from the primary level to the secondary level must be literate," she stated.

New policy

Under the new policy, pupils must achieve mastery of the Grade Four Literacy Test before they are allowed to sit the GSAT. Starting this year, the sitting of the Grade Four test will be moved from May to June, and it will be administered as a national external examination, similar to the GSAT.

"Children will be registered and will sit it under examination conditions. Papers will be marked and scored externally to the school. The results will be published from the MOE," Mrs Morris informed.