Education Minister Priya Manickchand on Wednesday said the mock examinations for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) slated for March 14-15 will assist teachers with determining how prepared students really are for the actual exams in May.
During an interview at the sidelines of an event on Wednesday, Minister Manickchand said NGSA 2024 will be conducted on May 2 and 3. Approximately 15, 566 students are registered for the exams.
Minister Manickchand said there is no concern that the fixed dates for the national exam will be hindered. The exam papers are being prepared by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and will be imported in time for the exam to commence.
Given the fact that these students’ educational intake was disrupted for two years by the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers must now access their preparedness.
“These children who are writing [NGSA] now left school in grade two and they were out to schools for very formative years.
“What we want to do is to make sure we assess and give teachers a chance to correct where they see correction is needed, which is why we’re doing the mocks. I think children have the most resources now than they’ve ever had with the most time to be able to use it,” the Education Minister said.
On March 14, the children will sit the English Papers I and II and Science Papers I and II, then on March 15, they will sit the Mathematics Papers I and II and Social Studies Papers I and II.
Last year, some 15,360 students wrote the examination and there was significant improvement recorded in Mathematics and Science, at 39.87 per cent and 55.11 per cent, respectively. In 2022, the pass rate for these subjects were 34.72 per cent and 46.45 per cent.
The pass rate for English was 64.47 per cent; previously, the pass rate was 64 per cent. The Social Studies pass rate slightly declined from 58.9 per cent in 2022 to 58.57 last year.
“When we’re investing this heavily because the government has made it clear, we will give children and teachers and parents what they need for their children to succeed. But whether that is being translated into the effective delivery of education in the classroom is still something we need to measure. And the best way of may not only be the best way of measuring that will be results at this point,” the minister said.
