The Ministry Education, Human Resource Planning, Vocational Training and National Excellence will administer the annual Grade Six National Assessment (G6NA) on Thursday, May 27 and Friday, May 28, 2021.
This year, 900 students, 433 girls and 467 boys, will write the exams across 68 centers around the island. The exams are set to begin at 7:45am.
The Ministry will continue to observe the Covid-19 protocols, however, 3 feet distancing rather than the 6 feet will be observed this year. All other protocols such as the wearing of masks and sanitization will be observed.
This year, the exam returns to its original format with four (4) papers being assessed over two (2) days. On Thursday, students will take the Language Arts and Social Sciences papers while on Friday, they will take the Mathematics and Science and Technology Papers. All papers are in multiple choice format with the Language Arts having an additional written composition aspect.
The Ministry of Education, Human resource Planning, Vocational Training and National Excellence continues to solicit the assistance of the bus drivers who will be transporting students to the centers to ensure that their vehicles are properly sanitized and that the students are kept safe while in their care.
The Ministry requests that parents or anyone not directly involved with the exam or the school DO NOT remain on the compounds of any testing center while the examinations are in progress.
The Ministry of Education, Human Resource Planning, Vocational Training and National Excellence wishes each and every Grade 6 Student success in the upcoming assessments.
As I said in my 2017 DNO Commentary “Life beyond the Common Entrance”, this “assessment” is a colonial hand me down that should have been abolished years ago. It is a seriously flawed way of assessing a child’s potential as it takes no account of creativity and inventiveness; thus neglecting these valuable attributes.
It also takes no account of the 20% of children who are dyslexic. To that end I recommend to parents and all involved with education, this recent video on dyslexia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtFKNPrJhJ4
True, parents should educate themselves on this issues. Also, teachers should be trained and equipped to deal with students who may suffer with this.