Dowlath: No change in SEA placement process

Amid parents' concerns on social media that school placements did not reflect their children's Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) scores, Education Minister Dr Michael Dowlath says there has been no change in the placement process used by the ministry this year.

Newsday asked Dowlath on July 7, if the ministry was aware of the complaints, if they were being addressed, and what are some reasons for the variation in results and school placement.

Dowlath said the process “has not changed from previous years” and outlined the “established criteria” used in determining student placement.

He said it included “Order of merit, school choice, gender, principals’ 20 per cent selection for denominational schools, residence, and multiple birth considerations.”

He added parents were free to query their child’s results by following the guidelines outlined in the SEA parent information booklet.

He noted, though, a query might result in several outcomes, including no change to the scores.

“The outcome of a review may result in (a) No change in scores – the school assigned remains the same, (b) Change in scores – but not enough to alter the assigned school, (c) Change in scores – resulting in a change of school placement.”

Dowlath added that results still had to be reviewed by Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) but gave no time line for the completion of the review process.

SEA results were released on July 3 and the ministry held a ceremony to honour the top five students on July 4.

Although the ministry did not rank the top five students, Caroni Central MP David Lee last week claimed Sandhya Maharaj had topped the exam.

Asked about this, Dowlath said the ministry identified the top five based on the results adding, “Students were not ranked, as changes to the order may occur following the review process conducted by CXC.”

He said the full list of 200 top performers would be published when the review process was completed.

Steps to query your child’s SEA results

1. Complete and return the ‘Request for Review’ form available at the education district office responsible for your child’s primary school. This must be submitted no later than five working days after the release of the SEA results.

2. A fee of BDS$25 will be charged for the review of each test paper.

3. Obtain a bank draft payable to ‘Registrar, Caribbean Examinations Council’ from any commercial bank and attach it to the ‘Request for Review’ form.

4. Results received from CXC will be processed by the Ministry of Education and made available at the Education District Offices on a date to be announced.