Minister of Education, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly MP, has described as “regrettable” and “unfortunate” the confusion surrounding the awards for students who wrote the 2020 Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) Examination.
And the minister has indicated that there will be a review of the “system of public identification and award of the top ranked SEA students”.
She stated in a release issued by the Ministry a short while ago:
“Going forward, this system of public identification and award of the top ranked SEA students will be reviewed. It is my personal view that it has outlived its usefulness and is now an additional stressor in an already high-stress environment.”
According to the education minister:
“This is a most unfortunate situation, and though I am very sorry about the distress caused to both children, a precedent cannot be set by the use of reviewed results for this award, as there are other children who would have reviewed their results and have had to abide by the existing policy.”
“The practice of announcing the ‘Top 200’ awards was halted since 2020 and has been replaced with a mechanism whereby the group of children recognized based on preliminary SEA results is more representative of our inclusive society; where effort is applauded, as well as high achievement. In 2020, the two students who were top placed based on preliminary results were recognized by the MOE, as is the custom, and those are the two who will be awarded,” Minister Gadsby-Dolly explained.
She added: “My deepest apologies go out to both students, who performed excellently, and should not have been subjected to this experience.”
The official statement from the Education Ministry sought to clarify the issue, explaining that the placement list normally is constructed from the preliminary SEA results, while acknowledging a parent’s right to query their child’s results.
“The practice of announcing the placement of students who wrote the SEA in any given year has customarily been based on the preliminary SEA results. Therefore, awards are given on this basis,” the Ministry’s statement explained.
It added: “It is, however, the right of any parent to query their child’s results, which is facilitated by the Caribbean Examination’s Council (CXC), the administering body for the SEA. These reviewed results are typically received two months after the preliminary results. This query may or may not alter the marks of students, but does not alter the preliminary placement list, upon which awards are made. This policy has been followed for many years.”
The Ministry notes that proper procedure was not followed by a Ministry official, which has led to the current controversy:
“The Executive of the MOE therefore views it as extremely unfortunate that a senior official of the Ministry exceeded the authority of their remit by varying the SEA placement list, based on reviewed results of some students, without reference to or approval of the Executive. Further to this variation, the official proceeded to inform the parents and schools of their eligibility for awards, according to the unapproved listing, which resulted in consternation. The official was therefore instructed to revert to the policy position, and to inform the parents and schools accordingly, which was done. As a result of this unilateral action, the achievement of the student who was rightfully announced as first placed, based on the preliminary SEA results of 2020, has been brought into question. This is highly regrettable.”
The Ministry of Education agreed to reverse its decision to change the award to be presented to the pupil who was identified by it as the top performer in the 2020 Secondary Entrance Examination (SEA) exam—Ameerah Beekhoo—after lawyers representing her parents threatened to file legal action over the issue earlier this week.
Originally, the ministry would have awarded Ameerah Beekhoo the President Medal (Gold), but changed that decision to award President Medal (Silver) instead.
The family’s lawyers Anand Ramlogan, SC and Jared Jagroo claimed that the switch in position would cause irreparable harm, as Beekhoo had been identified as the top performer publicly.
Acting Chief Education Officer Lisa Henry-David subsequently stated that the ministry had decided to rescind the previous correspondence [indicating the Silver Medal] and award Ameerah Beekhoo the President’s Medal (Gold).
