NGSA markers must take great care, seek several clarifications if needed

Aug 21, 2021 News

– 30% of reviews last year resulted in changed grades-Education Minister

Kaieteur News – The National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) 2021 was successfully completed despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In acknowledgement of this achievement, the Ministry of Education was keen to register its praise and gratitude for the outstanding contributions of its teachers, education officers, parents and students.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand

The Ministry said a lot of work was done to prepare pupils for this examination which included the distribution of study packages containing all the needed textbooks, the creation of a consolidated curriculum and extending the reach of distance learning mechanisms such as the Guyana Learning Channel.
On Saturday last, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand engaged the 35 table leaders as a group at the Tutorial High School one of two marking centres. The other centre is North Georgetown Secondary. Markers are assigned to tables which includes one table leader and seven markers.
While there, the Education Minister outlined and reinforced the roles of these teachers in the process and asked that their efforts produce results that cannot be questioned.
On Wednesday, Minister Manickchand visited the aforementioned locations to engage the 210 markers for the four subjects, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science and English. These markers and table leaders are teachers mostly of primary schools and are employees of the CXC examining body.
She implored markers to pay attention and be careful with the duty they have agreed to perform. She said the outcome is to have accurate results which will depend on how much care they take in their marking. She told them that if they needed to ask for clarification a dozen times; they must, as the children they are serving are depending on them to award marks earned and particularly because the questions may produce answers from “the lived experience” of children and no examining body in their typical answer key could cater for all that children could experience and therefore write.
To make this point, the Education Minister referenced results over the last five years whereby reviews resulted in changed marks and school placements. Last year alone, 30% of the reviews resulted in changed grades. The Minister reminded that not every parent knows of the review process, can access it on time and pay the requisite fee to get a review so even more resolve is necessary.
She said that such an occurrence does not augur well for the integrity of the examination system, which can lead to distrust by parents, students and the general public in the system.
The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) has been managing the NGSA examination since 2016 but disclaims knowledge of the changed grades. The body has however been asked by the Minister to tighten and manage all processes carefully at this year’s marking centres to mitigate against inaccurate marking.
During her engagement with teachers, Minister Manickchand said many policies had been changed this year including the fact that total scores will be rounded up to the closest whole number. Further, all reviews will be managed by CXC which sets, administers and evaluates the examination.
The Ministry of Education said it is pleased this year that markers were taken from all regions. The Ministry said it feels more confident that the results, which will be announced in October will reflect accurately what students have earned.

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