However, the ministry says this will not affect the date for the release of the results.

According to the ministry, schools were initially advised that the proposed dates for the sitting of the examination were March 18 and 19.

The proposed dates were sent out in the regular calendar of events in June 2009.

However, a decision was made to switch the sitting of GSAT to March 25 and 26 after "it became clear that due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts, March 18 and 19 were not good dates for the staging of the test", said the ministry in a release yesterday.

"There was nothing major. The date was sent out last year but having looked at the logistics, it was decided to move it back one week," a ministry official said.

The date for the release of the GSAT results remains June 18.

But this has not satisfied the National Parent Teachers' Association.

"We need to know more. Is there something significantly wrong and what do we tell our members," Miranda Sutherland, president of the association, told The Gleaner.

However, the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) seemed uncon-cerned about the change.

"As long as it does not disenfranchise any student, we have no violent objection to it," Dr Adolph Cameron, general secretary of the JTA, said.