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…MOE keeping an eye on CXC’s date for CSEC, CAPE which could affect NGSA
Schools in Guyana will reopen in September 2021 and will remain closed for the rest of the academic year except for Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Form students.
This was announced by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand on Friday. The Minister said in a video that, based on advice from the Minister of Health, Guyana may likely be in a state of relative normalcy by the month of September due to its ongoing vaccination campaign.
While vaccination is not mandatory, Manickchand said that the Government believes that if persons are responsible by protecting themselves from adverse effects of the virus through vaccination, the country will be in a better position.
“We expect therefore to be able to reopen schools in September 2021 to every grade level and we will work very hard to ensure that happens,” the Minister said.
“[Meanwhile] we have taken a decision, based on the advice of the Minister of Health, to remain closed for the rest of this school year — the academic year — which ends usually around the end of June or the first week in July. We will therefore remain closed for the month of June except for those classes that have already returned to the classroom.”
Schools in Guyana have been physically closed since March 2020 when the first case of COVID-19 was recorded.
The Education Minister also addressed ongoing discussions at the level of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) regarding the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) which were to be sat from June to August or June to July.
The decisions of the Council, however, could affect Guyana’s independent examination, the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
“We have very many options on the table that could possibly change that timeline. You would recall when we fixed the date for the NGSA exams, we fixed that date consciously knowing what dates CXC would set their exams for and we made sure the NGSA was falling outside of that timeline. If CXC changes their date it could impact significantly on our NGSA. But I want to assure you now that we heard parents and teachers and students when they said they would be ready for those exams in August and we are going to fight very hard to try to deliver those exams efficiently and smoothly and in a way that is in our children’s best interest in August,” Manickchand said.
As things progress, the Minister assured that the Education Ministry will keep parents and students informed even as they are urged to prepare for the exams as if they would be held in August 2021.
