Principals: Smooth sailing for first day of CSEC

Principals across TT have said the first day of CSEC and CAPE exams went “very well” said President of the Secondary Schools Principal Association Ronald Mootoo on Monday. Exams began that day with mostly CSEC students sitting exams for French, Spanish, Portuguese, music and other subjects.

Mootoo said students were appreciative of the efforts of the principals. Not all exams required students to be on the compound for very long, however, so some students would have gone to school just to submit their visual arts portfolios.

He said there was “reasonably low attendance of students, as the schedule would have indicated (but) all principals indicated everything went smoothly.”

Mootoo said one principal told him that some students did not have on masks.

“That could not be remedied but it was just a couple of the students, really. Things still went smoothly.”

He said all covid19 health protocols implemented by the Ministry of Health were observed.

“Principals would have communicated to both students and parents of the health protocols,” he said, adding they were already well known, when the “new normal” initiative by the Ministry of Health was rolled out. He said there were “no issues at all” of students not conforming.

He said principals were most concerned about physical distancing given that many students have not seen each other in months.

“Even as adults, you would want to greet each other but, fortunately, everything went smoothly.”

Mootoo said, although the Ministry of Education would have provided hand soap and sanitizers, for the most part, many secondary schools were able to get sponsors for other supplies they would have needed.