Intended to allow their placement at secondary level schools, pupils of the Region One Primary School where irregularities were uncovered during the sitting of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) in April, were permitted to re-sit the assessment.
The supplemental assessment was administered over the period July 2 and July 3.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry, yesterday, all of the candidates were present to take the assessment, except one who transferred out prior to the supplemental assessment. Based on reports out of the Ministry the candidates’ scripts are currently being marked and the results are slated to be ready by July 23.
Meanwhile, the Ministry has disclosed that an ongoing investigation into the irregularities at the school is in its final stage. Steps have been taken to maintain the integrity of the examination and to ensure that this incident does not re-occur.
In recent years, the Ministry said that it has established a number of quality assurance mechanisms to ensure that examinations and their subsequent results are of the highest integrity.
These measures allowed the Ministry to identify irregularities in the affected area and school.
The Ministry had opened-up about the fraudulent development in May, revealing that the investigation had commenced.
The investigation, according to Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, was implemented as a means of ensuring that “we minimize the likelihood of this happening again as well as determining what really happened.”
Although Ministry officials have refused to name the school under the microscope so as to protect the affected pupils from being stigmatized, Manickchand did assure at a press conference that “we will keep you updated as we get information.”
According to the Minister, too, “The irregularities we found would have, in our professional opinion, affected the integrity of the results of those pupils.”
It was in the best interest of the pupils, she said, that moves were made to ensure that another exam was prepared.
The Ministry had earlier expressed concern over the situation but asserted that the development was not one that would have impacted the general integrity or the timely release of the national results, since there were no other detected instances of irregularities at the other schools.
Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2014/07/05/ngsa-irregularities-at-region-one-schoolministry-says-supplemental-ngsa-results-by-july-23-2/