Motion to abolish SEA defeated in Youth Parliament

A motion to abolish the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination was defeated by a 23-21 margin at the sitting of the 20th National Youth Parliament at the Red House, Port of Spain on Monday.

The motion was defeated after four hours of spirited debate by 44 youth parliamentarians, selected from several educational institutions and youth groups.

In opening and closing debate on the motion, opposition leader Shaienne St Hilaire maintained that the SEA is "cruel, inhumane, and detrimental to the mental and emotional well-being of students and parents."

She advocated that it be abolished and be replaced by "a system of ongoing student assessment and the introduction of a more holistic system of evaluation and education of our nation’s children."

St Hilaire and other opposition MPs described that system as the continuous academic performance assessment (CAPA).

Pointe-a-Pierre MP Alana Atwell described the government as being delirious for continuing the SEA. She said it was the Common Entrance exam under a different name.

Princes Town MP Anisa Bhagwandeen asked, "Is the government ignoring this crisis?"

She wondered why government would want to put 11- and 12-year-old children through the stress that is the SEA.

With prime inister Sadah Bandoo leading the charge, the government dismissed the opposition's arguments as baseless.

Bandoo said the CAPA being proposed by the opposition was a recipe to promote "favouritism and nepotism."

She also said differences in the approach to teaching at different schools contributed to students' performance in the SEA as opposed to problems with the exam itself.

Attorney general Luke James Trim declared that the opposition's suggestion to abolish the SEA was "the most backward thing they could do for TT."

He said there is evidence to show standardised tests were superior to continuous assessment to ensuring the educational progress of students.

Trim added that the latter could allow parents to do school work for their children while teachers could grade students in ways to make themselves look good.

Public utilities minister Samantha Rampersad asked, "Are we grading student or their parents?"

During the sitting, speaker Avinash Manack was kept busy, reminding youth MPs to adhere to the standing orders.

Manack was particularly strict on advising MPs on proper responses to requests from their opponents to give way, turning their back to the speaker's chair relevance and tedious repetition.