Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 15, 2016 News
– Former Education Minister
Former Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has objected to the new layout of the National Grade
Six Assessment (NGSA) – more commonly referred to as the Common Entrance Examination – which requires the names of the candidates to be written on the examination papers instead of the use of traditional candidate numbers.
Manickchand has cited this change as a threat to the integrity of the education system which the country has managed to uphold for the past decades.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP), made these announcements at a Press Conference hosted by the Party at Freedom House, Brickdam, Georgetown yesterday.
A name, she said, will cause more trouble, while adding that parents have expressed “great terror” that the request for names on the paper can lead to “discrimination”.
She said that these parents are asking the Ministry of Education to withdraw the “senseless” requirement.
Manickchand also raised concerns about the secretive way the changes would have been made, which has resulted in parents contacting members of the Party inquiring whether the government is going to sensitise the public soon, since the examinations are scheduled to be written in a few weeks.
Manickchand said that she had written to the Minister of Education and the Chief Education Officer, and was informed that one part of the paper will be marked electronically outside of Guyana, while the other part will be marked locally.
While she sees no issue with a section of the papers being marked overseas, she is more concerned about the other section, which might open the process to subjectivity.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education later in the day released a statement, entitled “Further Clarification on New Layout for NGSA, Administrative mechanisms will have no bearing on the marking process “.
The release stated that each of the four subjects written in the National Grade Six Assessment has two papers (Paper 1 and Paper 2). As it relates to candidate information, the two papers require different sets of information. For paper one, the answer sheets will have the candidate information—candidate name and identification number—already printed or ‘pre-slugged’.
“The candidates are required to write/sign their names as a mechanism to ensure that the candidate for whom the paper was prepared is actually the one who answers the questions. This will have no implications for marking, because these answer sheets are all marked electronically,” the release stated.
As it relates to paper two, the cover page of the answer sheet is “bifurcated and perforated”. The Test Code, Subject, and Candidate Number are required on both sides. The Test Code and Subject will already be printed, while candidates will be required to write in their Candidate Number—this information is provided for them on the timetables given to every candidate.
In addition to this, on the right half of the paper only, candidates are also required to write in the name of their school, their full name, date of birth and gender. The right side of the sheets are all detached prior to the commencement of the marking of paper two and retained for administrative purposes only.
The information that would be evident during the marking process would be the Test Code, Subject, and Candidate Number only.
“These are administrative mechanisms that will have no bearing on the marking process whatsoever,” the release concluded.
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