Minister makes good on promise to discard parts of NGSA

Nov 22, 2015 News

Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, since his appointment as Minister of Education, had stated the need for parts of the National Grade Six Examination to be discarded as it was fostering unhealthy, “exam culture” in the nation’s children.

Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine

In an interview on Thursday, Dr Roopnaraine revealed that this will “come into play virtually immediately. The next Grade Six assessments are going to be assessments that will not have 15% percent from Grades Two and Four examinations,” he said.
The Ministry has sent out a circular to schools across the country stating that “with immediate effect, the weighting previously attributed to the Grades Two and Four Assessments will cease.”
Schools were urged to put the necessary systems in place for the results of these assessments to be the basis for strategic interventions aimed at overcoming identified weaknesses of pupils.
The Minister recently expressed his disappointment at the current grading system for the NGSA. In Grades Two and Four, pupils are required to write examinations which account for 15% of their final NGSA results. The Grade Two exam accounts for five per cent of the results while the Grade Four exam accounts for 10 per cent.
“What I’m saying is, let’s keep the assessment but let’s use it for diagnostic reasons,” said Dr Roopnaraine.
He said that such a system, will allow educators to better tackle weak areas the students might have so that these weaknesses can be corrected for the Grade Six examinations.
The Minister recounted stories he heard of pupils in Grade Two taking extra lessons for their examinations. He labeled this practice as “complete madness.”
“At Grade Two you’re supposed to be enjoying school not being primed for exams,” said the Minister.
The rationale behind this move was said to be an effort to take the “exam culture” out of Grades Two and Four. The Minister stated that priming children from such a young age for examinations can seriously hinder their social development. By discarding the grading system for the NGSA the Minister revealed that his aim is to make the children happier, “as happier children learn best.”