Guyana may not have capacity to run three major exams and maintain high integrity- Manickchand

Feb 06, 2021 News

– says Ministry awaiting CXC timetable to set NGSA exams

Pupils taking the NGSA examinations last year

Kaieteur News – Guyana may not have the capacity to host three major exams simultaneously and still ensure high integrity in the conduct of same. This is according to the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand. The examinations in question are the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand

In a release from the Ministry of Education (MOE), Manickchand was quoted as saying, “CXC has not announced dates for their CSEC and CAPE exams and the country may not have the capacity to run three major exams at the same time and maintain the high integrity of the exams.”
Notably, last year the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) had refused to postpone the examinations, maintaining that the integrity will remain intact. It was said that, “We have all the systems in place to facilitate and to ensure that we do not have any cheating incidents.”
The CSEC and CAPE examinations are usually held between May/June annually, however, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, CXC has not announced dates for this year’s examinations according to Manickchand. The NGSA examination is usually written in March/April, but last November, the Education Minister had announced that the examination would be postponed.
“The exams will not be written in March/April. We’re definitely going to be postponing it, if we write it at all,” Manickchand had said.
She had explained that unlike the CSEC and CAPE examinations, which are administered by the Council, Guyana administers the NGSA, thus, the Ministry of Education can determine whether or not it is written.
Before the November postponement, the NGSA examinations, which were set for April 8 and 9 last year were postponed by the Education Ministry when all schools closed due to the novel coronavirus. It was later written on July 1 and 2, 2019.
In the Ministry’s release, Manickchand expressed that she and her team are yet to decide the new dates for the NGSA, but she is however, awaiting the announcement of CXC’s examination dates before Guyana’s new NGSA dates are scheduled. “So because we may not be able to run CXC, CAPE and NGSA at the same time, we want to hear CXC’s dates for CSEC and CAPE before we schedule our NGSA. As soon as we have a date, we promise we will let the nation know,” the Education Minister noted.
Manickchand is estimating that the NGSA may be held sometime closer to July/August. She lamented that if the Ministry were to determine a date now, it would be “premature” since no one knows what the country will look like regarding COVID-19 two to three months from now.
Additionally, she sought to highlight that schools will remain closed for face-to-face learning except for those in Grades 10, 11 and 12, as the Ministry of Health would have strongly advised against face-to-face learning for any other levels.