Guyana ready for sitting of NGSA – Min Manickchand

…says effects of COVID closure now unfolding

Education Minister Priya Manickchand stated that Guyana is prepared for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), scheduled to be written this July.

In an engagement with the media on Monday, Manickchand revealed that while a section of the population is also lobbying for schools to remain closed, the effects of closure during the pandemic are manifesting now. Moreover, there can be a higher dropout rate.
In this light, she underscored that the country must remain steadfast, sit the exams and formulate actions to address recovery.
“We are physically ready. We will have the exam paper in July, that is set and marked by CXC. I think now though, we are now seeing an unfolding across the country, in the Ministry, of the effects of two years of school closure. It was something a lot of people dealt with lightly. The Opposition still is calling for schools to remain closed.”
“You might even have the phenomena of dropouts presenting itself in larger numbers than we have seen before. We have seen indications of all of those things. We’re ready to sit the exams. The better question I think is are we ready to recover from the two years of school closure,” Manickchand shared.
Speaking on the concluded mock exams, intended to prepare students for the assessment, the Minister outlined that she was satisfied with its rollout. Students would also be able to identify their weaknesses ahead of the exams.
“Mock exams are usually made up so that we can give children the experience of sitting an exam as well as exposure to the type of environment that will come so that on the exam day, there is no shock. Students can go in and do their best. The first one is usually a wake-up call to many, including parents who think their children were high-flyers and doing very well. There’s a lot of space between the first and the exam day. I’m satisfied that it was run-off very well. I’m satisfied that there was no indication to us from schools, parents, students one anyone else that mistakes were on the paper.”
On the other hand, while some stakeholders had called for an extension for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), the Minister said the dates remain unchanged. She pointed out that it is a regional examination, and the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) is responsible for finalising the timeline.
“Any kind of CXC exams, except for NGSA, is not a decision we can take by ourselves in Guyana. We can advocate vociferously and aggressively about what our students want and what would be in their best interest but it is not something we can do by ourselves. It’s a regional exam. Personally, I think the exams could have been put back a little bit. We cannot continue or begin as though we did not sit it out for two years. Guyana is the first country that went back into schools so our children are not that badly off but at this stage, the exams remain when they were scheduled for,” she related.