NGSA likely to be held in July/August – Manickchand

The National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) will likely be held in July/August this year, according to Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.

In a social media post on Thursday, Manickchand said the exams will not be held in March/April as per usual due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She further noted that the country is also awaiting the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) to announce dates for the 2021 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) before setting a date for NGSA.

“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,” the Education Minister explained.

As it relates to the structure of NGSA, Minister Manickhand said that after consultations with teachers and parents the “the most desirable position would be to have what we are most accustomed to in the country.”

However, there are other options which range from “having an assessment as is known: paper one and paper two, to not having an assessment at all and using the grades two and four (assessment results),” Minister Manickchand said.

Earlier in the year, several teachers during the consultations shared their views on the matter and made meaningful recommendations on how the ministry should address the issue.

Meanwhile, Manickchand said schools will remain closed for face to face learning for the month of February with the exception of Grades 10, 11 and 12. Last year October, the National COVID-19 Task Force gave the go-ahead for schools to reopen for those grades.

“All the other grades will continue to be engaged in the way that they have been engaging. We are advised by the Ministry of Health that we cannot reopen any other grade and level at this point,” the minister said.

Timetabled content for all grades is being aired on the Guyana Learning Channel while the Broadcasts to Schools and the Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) programs continue to be aired on the radio along with the distribution of worksheets to the various schools.