The 2026 edition of Jamaica’s Grade Six National Assessment (G6NA) is slated to kick off later this month, with the island’s Ministry of Education, Human Resource Planning, Vocational Training and National Excellence confirming full logistics and scheduling for the nationwide exam cycle. Per the official announcement, the two-day assessment will run on Thursday, May 28 and Friday, May 29, hosted at 62 accredited examination centres distributed across the island.
This year, a total cohort of 792 sixth-grade students are registered to participate in the assessments, broken down into 412 male and 380 female candidates. All testing sessions are scheduled to commence promptly at 7:45 a.m. on both days, and the entire assessment will be administered via a traditional paper-based format, consistent with previous cycles of the national evaluation.
The exam schedule is structured to split assessments across the two testing days. On the opening day, candidates will complete three components: a multiple-choice Language Arts evaluation, a multiple-choice Social Studies assessment, and a standalone writing composition paper. The second day will be dedicated to STEM-focused evaluations, with a Mathematics assessment followed by a multiple-choice Science and Technology paper.
Ministry officials confirmed that comprehensive pre-exam preparations have been completed in close partnership with classroom teachers and school administrators across the island to guarantee a seamless, low-disruption testing experience. Key preparatory steps included distributing detailed procedural guidelines to all education stakeholders and hosting mandatory training sessions for appointed examination supervisors to standardize testing protocols.
The education ministry also publicly acknowledged the support of the Ministry of National Security, which has collaborated to secure the safe transportation and secure storage of confidential examination materials ahead of the testing window. To support students during the assessment period, education authorities are issuing a public request: parents, guardians, and all community members are asked to avoid school grounds where exams are being held over the two days, to preserve a quiet, distraction-free testing environment that lets students focus on their work.
Beyond logistics, the ministry is offering guidance to families supporting participating students, encouraging caregivers to help students prioritize rest and stress reduction in the lead-up to the assessments. To close the official announcement, the Ministry of Education extended warm best wishes to every candidate sitting the 2026 G6NA, expressing confidence that students will put forward their best work and achieve successful, positive outcomes.