Although students have not yet returned to the classroom in full following the Easter term break, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand is confident that they would perform well at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) this year.
The Minister said despite the pandemic, students are receiving quality education that will ensure their success.
“We believe that there is enough time from when our students entered in October to June, to be able to not only prepare but prepare and ace these exams.
“We believe that even if a student might not have been as robust and aggressive and assertive in their studies from October to now, that between now, April, and June there is enough time, given the way the CXC exams are structured, if a student puts his or her head down and focuses on what the syllabus is asking for, there is enough time to pass the exams,” she said.
Students in Grades 10, 11 and 12 returned to the classrooms on Monday after the Easter break.
After Guyana’s first COVID-19 case was recorded in March 2020, schools were closed for eight months. When the PPP/C Administration came into office in August, Minister Manickchand spearheaded several initiatives to reduce learning losses. This included the production and distribution of worksheets for students countrywide, the expansion and provision of scheduled tuition via the Guyana Learning Channel, and the provision of training for teachers to increase their competence to teach through Zoom and other virtual platforms.
After consultations with the Ministry of Health, parents and students, the Education Ministry took a decision to restart classroom instruction for senior students on November 9, 2020. The aim was to ensure they were prepared for this year’s CXC exams.
The CXC has also made provisions for students who are not ready to write the exam in June to do so in January or May 2022, at no additional cost. The fees paid for the 2021 sitting would be deferred to the following year. To further support students, the School Based Assessments from 2021 would also be used to tally their grades. [Extracted and Modified from DPI]
