No definite date for students’ results

Annandale Secondary School’s SBA glitch

A source within the Education Ministry on Friday disclosed that there was no definite timeline for the resolution of the Annandale Secondary School “technical glitch”, which has caused a delay in several students entering university or Sixth Form.

The students, who were issued with incorrect grades and, in some instance, no grades following their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, were expecting that the situation would have been corrected on Thursday. However, Thursday passed and the students were left questioning their fate as many of them are waiting to enter the University of Guyana or Sixth Form.

According to reports, this expectancy had tempered the vexation of many parents who were planning to hold a public demonstration to vent their frustration over the error.

However, the Ministry source revealed that an official met with the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) on Friday and they were in the process of resolving the issue.

Acting Chief Education Officer (CEO) Marcel Hutson had previously disclosed that the teachers at the Annandale School did not err with respect to the submission of the School Based Assessments (SBAs) to CXC.

This followed a report that many of the students were unable to obtain passes in certain subjects on account of the school’s alleged non-submission of the SBAs, but the Education Ministry had sought to clear up the issue and had contacted CXC.

“This is not a situation that the teachers did not do what they had to do, it was a technical glitch,” Hutson had indicated.

Guyana Times had reported that the school’s teachers had received the requisite training in sending the SBA grades online to CXC, but even so did not stick to the deadline.

The exact number of students affected was not disclosed.

Hutson had stated that the Ministry was prepared to do everything in its power to ensure that those children are enrolled in university or Sixth Form.

“We will have it rectified,” he said.

When the CXC results were announced last month, it was revealed that there was an overall pass rate of 64 per cent of students who scored between Grade One and Three across the Caribbean.