Final year students of the Georgetown School of Nursing were in tears yesterday after being told that they would have to re-sit their final examinations since the nursing council had tangible evidence that the tests had been “compromised.”
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, several students related that having written the four-part examination on October 18th and 19th, they were expecting to receive their results in December or at the latest in January.
However, what they received was a phone call from principal tutor Cleopatra Barkoye, who requested their presence at a meeting on Friday afternoon.
At the meeting, the students were presented with the contents of a letter received by Barkoye on November 8th. The letter stated that due to the discovery of tangible evidence of a “compromise in the papers,” all students would be expected to re-sit the examinations before the end of November. The decision affects nursing student not just at the Georgetown Nursing School but at the Berbice and Linden campuses as well.
Stabroek News was unable to secure a comment either from Barkoye or a member of the Nursing Council of Guyana as their offices were closed when this newspaper visited yesterday.
The students, however, report being disappointed with the lack of clear information as to their futures.
“She [Barkoye] received the letter since the eighth but she didn’t find out any information so that she could respond to our queries. She could not answer our questions. We asked for evidence of the compromise.
They are claiming they have evidence that the papers were leaked to students but they have not shown us this evidence. We asked why the council did not come to address us directly, to tell us what their evidence was and when exactly is the date of this new exam but she could not answer us at all,” one student, who did not want to be named, said.
As they struggle to come to grips with the idea that their graduation may be further delayed, the students are demanding that in the absence of the evidence of the test being compromised, the council marks their papers.
“Show us this evidence. For years there have been rumours of students buying papers and passing examinations but no proof. If you say you have proof, show us.
If you can’t show us this proof, just mark the examinations we have already written and let those who passed move on and those who failed make the necessary decisions,” another student said.
