Gov’t Extends Online Learning To July 3; Schools To Reopen September 7

The Government has extended online and distance learning for schools to July 3.

Minister with oversight for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Karl Samuda, said that schools will not physically reopen until the next school year on September 7, 2020.

“We had planned for schools to physically reopen (on) June 1; this will not happen,” Mr. Samuda said during a digital press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister on Monday (May 4).

He noted that there will be a process of assessment and learning for the first 20 days after school reopens, “so that we can get a good feel of the level at which each child is”.

“They have been denied, many of them, an opportunity to experience the classroom environment, so we have to reintegrate them in a sense, reenergise them, make them enthusiastic about school as they were before this outbreak,” he said.

Meanwhile, as it relates to the school-leaving examinations, the Minister advised that for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), a decision has been made to forego the Performance Task and the Curriculum-based Tests, originally scheduled for March and April, respectively, and instead, use grades from previous tests to place students at the secondary level.

“We will use the Grade Four Numeracy and Literacy exams done in 2018, the Grade Five Performance Task… which was done in 2019, and the results of the Grade Six Ability Test done in February 2020,” he said.

He said that the decision has the support of stakeholders in the sector. Secondary school placements will be released on June 26, 2020.

“We are already advanced in the preparation of those placements, but we have to make sure they are properly checked and cross checked,” the Minister noted.

With respect to the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations, Minister Samuda said that the body has proposed assessment for late June/July or September/October and the administration of multiple-choice papers either online or paper-based.

He noted that a final decision will be made at the upcoming CARICOM Heads of Government meeting, which Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, will attend virtually.

For the City and Guilds examinations, the plan is to use calculated results, which include “teacher/assessor estimates, grades and judgement of the results for approximately 30,000 students”.

As it relates to the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET), the proposal is to use online testing for the theoretical component of the assessment for 18,000 students.

The closure of public schools was among the early decisions taken by the Government as part of measures to contain and control the spread of the coronavirus (C0VID-19).

Schools were ordered closed for two weeks from March 13, and this has since been further extended.