Stating that Guyana does not have the capacity to host two major examinations simultaneously, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand says that the Ministry is awaiting the disclosure of dates for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams before setting a date for this year’s Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
Manickchand made this revelation yesterday at the University of Guyana campus on the sidelines of another event. The Minister said that everyone who writes this year’s NGSA or placement exam will be allowed to continue their studies in the Grade Seven since the basis of the exam is to determine at which school a child will be placed.
She informed that parents have indicated their desire to have pupils write the examination based on work done from Grades Two to Five. Others favour using examination results from the National Grade Two and Four examination, but the preferred option is to have the assessment of Paper I and II of work done up to Grade Five.
Continuing, she said a decision is yet to be made in that regard and it is a bit premature to announce given the country’s COVID-19 status. She noted that the Ministry of Health will advise on a way forward regarding the examination in two or three months’ time.
However, she said one of the setbacks to the announcement of NGSA’s date is the fact that CXC is yet to disclose dates for the CSEC examination.
“We know for sure that the exam [NGSA] will not be held in March or April which is usually when it’s held and it’s going to be pushed back until July or August and so why we are unable to announce a date is because CXC has not announced dates for their CSEC and CAPE exams and the country [Guyana] does not have the capacity to run two exams at the same time,” she explained.
She added that CAPE and CSEC dates need to be fixed before NGSA dates are announced so that all the examinations will maintain their high standard in terms of results. She noted that there are a number of factors that contribute to the clashing of the examinations pointing out that usually, trained invigilators oversee both CSEC and NGSA.
Regarding the CSEC and CAPE, Manickchand said that she hopes that the dates are announced soon noting that discussions so far, seem to indicate that students might have to write a Paper 1 and 2 while also providing a School-Based Assessment.
However, there is no definitive word from CXC indicating that this will be the case.
