The first day of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) was met with complaints of short notice and a student being prohibited from sitting the exam in Santa Rosa.
Graham Atkinson, project coordinator with the Amerindian People’s Association yesterday complained that persons in Santa Rosa, Region One, were not given adequate time to prepare for the exam. He said that on Tuesday a release was sent out informing persons that the sitting of the exam was still required even though the council had enforced a lockdown in the region and was informed that the exam would not be written in the region. However, the Ministry announced that students from each of the regions would be sitting the exam yesterday and today.
With the short notice, invigilators were sent from Santa Rosa to more rural parts of the region to invigilate the exams but Atkinson complained that the safety of students turning out to write the exam was not clear considering that he was not certain that the facilities where the exam was written were thoroughly sanitised, bearing in mind there has been a continuous spike in number of active cases in the region. There are currently over 60 active cases of COVID-19 reported in Region One.
Meanwhile, a student was prohibited from sitting his National Grade Six Assessment. The reason behind this is unclear to the family but a relative told this newspaper that the family suspects it is because the child’s parents have tested positive for COVID-19.
“I can only assume it’s because his parents tested positive for Covid-19 and they are in isolation at present. He was tested and he was tested negative, he and his sibling. He was prohibited from writing the exam. He was sent home,” the child’s aunt said when contacted after the news broke concerning the child’s debarment.
Asked whether his temperature was checked among other procedures which the Ministry said would be carried through before being allowed to enter the exam room, the relative responded by saying “I don’t know what they had, what measure they had. If they had any measure in place at all.”
She said that her young relative had been looking forward to writing his exam and complained that if he was supposed to sit it out, he or his guardian, who is his grandmother, should have been informed that he would not be allowed to enter the exam room and for what reasons, prior to him showing up.
She said she doesn’t know if other students were also prohibited from entering the examination room. Stabroek News made attempts at contacting Ministry officials after receiving this information but was unsuccessful.
A release from the Ministry yesterday assured that efforts have been made to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus while the NGSA examination is being administered. It stated that the strictest guidelines outlined in a gazetted order by the Education Ministry were being followed. The Ministry’s Senior Public Relations Officer, Brushell Blackman, also confirmed that all procedures were carried through yesterday. But when contacted he admitted that he had not yet been updated by regional officials.
In the release, the Minister of Education Nicolette Henry, as well as the Chief Education Officer Carol Benn offered their best wishes to the candidates and thanked parents for coming onboard and showing support by having the students turn out to write the exam.
Benn also noted in the release that she is delighted with the efforts to keep persons safe while in the school environment and assured that that prior to the reopening of schools for these examinations, they were thoroughly sanitised and fumigated to ensure a safe and clean environment.
The NGSA continues today when students will write Mathematics and Social Studies Papers One and Two. Yesterday English Language and Science Papers One and Two were written.
The Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) will begin on July 13.
