No top ranking, rewards for SEA 2022, UNC activist told

IN 2022, there was no top 100 ranking of students who sat that year’s Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination.

However, any student who wants information on their performance can make a freedom of information application to the Education Ministry.

For that year there were 30 such applications from parents wanting to find out if their child were in the top 200 in 2022 and no monetary prize was given to any student who wrote last year’s SEA exam.

These were the responses by the ministry to a freedom of information request by UNC activist Marsha Walker who asked the government to justify its decision to stop publishing a listing of the top performers in the annual SEA exam.

Walker asked for disclosure of the list of the top 100 performers in last year’s exam as well as the number of parents who would have made FOIA requests for the ministry to confirm whether their children were among the top performers.

She asked for information on the work of a 20-member committee that was appointed by the ministry in 2021 to review the SEA examination.

Walker was also told that before 2020, students who got a grade of 95 per cent or higher were awarded units of $500 from the Unit Trust Corporation and a certificate of recognition of achievement.

On the committee, she was given copies of their appointment letters and their terms of reference. However, she was told their draft report was denied since it was an exempt document.

The committee was appointed to review and recommend changes to the conduct of the SEA examination, the transition to secondary schools and the Concordat.

Members of that committee were: Professor Jerome De Lisle of the School of Education, University of the West Indies; Harrilal Seecharan, former chief education officer; Dr Ruby Alleyne, vice president of quality assurance and institutional effectiveness at the University of TT; Bernadine Dick, instructor at The UWI School of Education; Dr Joanne Spence, behaviour change consultant and lecturer, Oxford Graduate School, The Therapeutic Assessment Centre; Sherra Carrington-James, president of the Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools; Lance Mottley, president of the National Primary Schools Principal Association; Sonia Mahase-Persad, president of the Association of Principals of Assisted Secondary Schools; two representatives each from the Tobago House of Assembly, the National Parent Teachers Association, and the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA); three representatives from the Inter-Religious Organisation; Naima Hosein, director of School Supervision and Management Division at the ministry and Dr Peter Smith, director of Educational Planning Division, also at the ministry.

The ministry said the “total amount of remuneration paid to any member of the committee was $140,100."

In the request, attorney Vishaal Siewsaran, of Freedom Law Chambers, said Walker was interested in the information as she is in the process of conducting a research project on shortcomings in the education system related to the SEA exam.

He said the project would consider the circumstances behind girls outperforming boys, a comparison between the performance of government primary schools and denominational institutions, and the performances of students from different geographic regions.

“Our client considers this to be an important research project in the public interest. She intends to publish this paper to stimulate public debate and discussion on the current status quo of the top performers in the SEA,” Siewsaran said.

He also referred to the decision by the minister to stop publishing a listing of the top performers in the exam.

At the time, Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said the publication caused unhealthy competitiveness, which is often driven by parents.

However, Siewsaran said, “Competition amongst students is healthy because it makes them strive for excellence and maximise their true potential. Any attempt to eliminate competition will therefore be counterproductive and promote mediocrity instead of meritocracy.”