Students sitting their oral exams will have a timetable which will ensure that they are not all congregated in the school compound in keeping with the coronavirus safety measures.
After being postponed by the Caribbean Examinations Council, the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) oral examinations started on Tuesday, June 7. In order for students to sit these exams while following COVID-19 safety protocols, teachers have established a scheduled/timetable which students are following to ensure that too many persons are not gathered in the school compound unless they need to be.
One teacher told Stabroek News that ordinarily, students would follow a list which has their names in alphabetical order to write the exam. By using the class register, teachers were able to select a small number of students to go to school and do the exam thereby reducing the risk of infection.
Speaking with a student from Queen’s College who asked not to be named, the process for the exam was explained. “My teacher sent a scheduled timetable for students to follow. On the timetable, she arranged for, I think seven persons to go to school in the morning on certain dates and seven in the afternoon,” she said. “So if you’re on the list for the first day at that time, you go to school and then when that is finished you leave.” She said that the schools are expected to follow the same protocols as were previously used for the sitting of the National Grade Six Assessment and also the revision sessions that students attended for the last two weeks.
Sitting of oral exams is usually done individually as it is a one on one “conversation” between the invigilator and the student. While the student being invigilated is taking the exam, the remaining students are expected to wait outside of the exam room. However, coronavirus protocols state that persons are advised to avoid crowded areas therefore the students will be placed in a classroom with sufficient spacing (6 feet apart) between them.
Strict rules have been gazetted by the Ministry of Education to ensure safety for all as the students get their exams done. The Ministry of Public Health has also been working closely with the Education Ministry to provide advice for safety and health officials who are stationed at all of the institutions being used.
The sitting of the CSEC and CAPE, written exams will begin on July 13th.
