SEA date and awful exam scores

THE EDITOR: Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly announced that only 37.06 per cent of students scored above 50 per cent in the SEA examination this year. This translates to an average of 7,000 students out of an average total of 19,000 students. This is astonishing and frightening at the same time. However, we need solutions and solutions require a thorough understanding of why this collapse occurred and the systems which are required to repair this broken system in order to avoid Trinidad and Tobago suffering a full-blown education epidemic.

In this letter I will discuss the date of the SEA examination which I believe was one of the biggest faux pas which contributed to the abysmal test scores.

In 2020, students wrote the SEA exam on August 20 and in 2021 they wrote it on July 1. This could not be avoided because of the ongoing pandemic. However, these late dates altered the entire transitioning system.

In 2019, then education minister Anthony Garcia announced that the SEA exam was reverting to March instead of May – the students ultimately wrote the exam on April 4. This meant Std 4 pupils would transition to Std 5 in term three and thus enjoy an almost full three terms of Std 5. Additionally, it cannot be overstated that all students attended face-to-face classes 100 per cent of the time.

Enter 2022 where the last batch of Std 5s would have written the exam in July, meaning that the current Std 4s did not become Std 5s until these students had sit exams. The major problem with not becoming Std 5s until the current class writes, is that the students do not enjoy the expertise of the Std 5 specialist teacher.

So, let us now consider the magnitude of what this class of 2022 truly faced. These students were in their second term of Std 3 when schools were closed in March of 2020. Thus they were online students from that time until early February 2022. Compounded, these students did not become Std 5s until after July 1 and lastly, after only two terms in Std 5, these children were made to write the SEA exam on March 31, 2022.

Considering all of the bad habits developed after almost two years of online schooling, coupled with the fact that online schooling slows the process considerably of completing the syllabus in a timely manner, this early SEA date left no time for the process of mastery in learning to take effect.

While I understand that it was the intent of the ministry to bring the system back into balance, I fear this was not the year to do so. The cart was without a doubt placed before the horse.

Firstly, the SEA date should not have reverted to March until face-to-face classes had been 100 per cent restored from the first term of the school year. Secondly, even to revert to a March date would have required the ministry to think outside the box – like perhaps extending the third term to include the full month of July for Std 5s. This would have ensured that enough time was provided for the completion of the syllabus and effective learning to occur.

What should have been an eased-into process was handled quite harshly and without foresight or understanding. Sadly, what many do not grasp is the deep trauma many students suffered as a result of this rushed process. A situation was forged where only the strong and the more privileged students survived. It was indeed the perfect storm for failure and yet still this is not the end of this tragic tale.

RAE MARIE D’ANDRADE

Arouca