Close to 300 students missed exams because of illness, quarantine

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Approximately 64 secondary school students and 227 primary school students missed critical exams this year.

The secondary school students missed either the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) or the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam (CAPE) due to illness and/or being quarantined due to the COVID-19 virus.

A total of 59 students missed the CSEC exams; while five missed their CAPE exams.

The missed exams so far were for dates running from June 15 to July 7.

In the case of the primary school students, Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly disclosed that of the 227 who missed the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam on July 1, “Our tally is that 56 students reported to have missed the exam due to quarantine or health-related concerns.”

She said the secondary school students would be allowed to write the exams at the next sitting which will be next year.

A make-up SEA exam will be administered on July 21, but it is not known if all 227 students will be accommodated or if it will only be the 56 that missed it due to illness/quarantine.

Gadsby-Dolly has not revealed the other reasons behind why the remaining 171 students missed their SEA exam.

A total of 19,651 students were initially registered to write the SEA exam this year.

Students were tested in the areas of English Language Arts Writing (50 minutes); Mathematics (75 minutes); and English Language Arts (75 minutes).

SEA results are expected to be released by October 8.

— Anna-Lisa Paul