THE Ministry of Education yesterday announced that the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) will be held on Wednesday April 27 and Thursday April 28, 2016.

As such, the parents of candidates preparing to write the examination are asked to take note of the following timetable:

The Ministry has decided to extend the dates by one month to give teachers sufficient time to complete the Grade 6 curriculum, and give students additional time, within which to prepare for the Assessments. Teachers have been advocating for the additional time to be granted for some time now.

In the meantime, logistical preparations and quality assurance mechanisms are being put in place for the efficient administration of assessments in April 2016.

Meanwhile, the ministry would like to remind the public that, with immediate effect, the weighting previously attributed to the Grades Two and Four Assessments will stop.
Therefore, NGSA 2016 will not include grades obtained from the recent Grades 2 and 4 assessments.

The Grades Two and Four Assessments will be used strictly for diagnostic purposes, as was initially intended. Schools are urged to put the necessary systems in place for the results of these assessments to be the basis for strategic interventions aimed at overcoming identified weaknesses of pupils.

The Ministry would also like to encourage parents to continue to work with their children to ensure that they improve in any subject area that is considered a challenge to the child.