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THE NATIONAL GRADE SIX ASSESSMENT

May 20, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

One of the good news emerging last week concerned the release of the results of the National Grade Six Assessment. This exam which is written in April is the main examination that determines how students are streamed into secondary schools.
The NGSA accounts for about 85% of the total marks by students with the other 15% coming from assessments done in Grades 2 and Grades 4.
As such, it is the NGSA that is the main determinant as to the streaming of primary-school leavers.
The results of the NGSA are usually out towards the latter half of June of each year, just prior to the end of the school year. The Ministry of Education announced last week that marking of the examination scripts for the 2014 examinations is already completed and the tabulations are being done. It is anticipated, according to reports that the results will be out by the last week of June.
That in itself is not an achievement because the results are usually out towards the end of June which is just before the close of the school year in July. Therefore, what the Ministry of Education has announced will not mean an earlier release date for the results. All it means is that the results will not be late this year. But then again they never are.
The release of the results before the end of the academic year has its benefits. It allows for the various schools to put measures in place to have a smooth process of admitting the new students. It also allows time for parents to have uniforms sewed and books procured. In this regard, the Ministry must be complimented for maintaining an early date for the release of the results. Parents will not be rushed in having their children ready for September nor will the schools be under pressure to register the new entrants.
Nonetheless the Ministry of Education should pat itself on the back in relation to the release date of the examination results. But it should now focus on how best it can release the results one month later without affecting the smooth admission of students for the new academic year beginning in September 2014.
There is no reason why the results cannot be released towards the end of July and the necessary arrangements made within one month for the smooth admission of students into their new schools. This is the ultimate challenge that the Ministry of Education should be addressing.
It places a great deal of pressure on teachers and students alike when the NGSA has to be written in April. It means that the students lose an entire term preparing for these examinations.
It is possible for the Ministry to complete marking the scripts in one month with another month for collating the results. This is what is happening at the moment. Thus if it takes two months for the Ministry to mark the scripts and to tabulate the results, it means that if the examinations are written in May instead of April, the results can be ready by the end of July giving administrators and parents one month to be in a state of readiness for the new academic year.
This extra month of studying will be extremely helpful for the students. They can write the exams in May instead of April. The marking of the scripts can be completed in June and the results ready for release by July.
The Ministry of Education should therefore aim to have a later examination and to ensure that steps are in place to sort out all administrative hiccups in time for the September opening of schools.
For teachers, shifting the NGSA to May will be greatly appreciated because it will give them more time to prepare their students. It will also ease the pressure on the children since they will have an extra month for the examinations.
The Ministry of Education stands to benefit also. If children are allowed one additional month of tuition before having to sit their examinations, it is likely that they will do better because they would have had four extra weeks of preparation. The overall results are therefore likely to improve and the children should do better, thus allowing the Ministry of Education to boast about improved performances.

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