THE students and pupils who are preparing to sit the upcoming Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), and the National Grade Six Assessment next month, have been given the option of returning to school from tomorrow for face-to-face classes.

Last week, this decision was made optional by the Ministry of Education so that the students and pupils will be better prepared for their exams, given the circumstances. The ministry as well as the school teachers have spent last week putting the necessary measures in place to have a safe environment for classes.

However, some students are not quite comfortable with the idea, while some are thankful for the opportunity to be back in their school environment.
This publication engaged with a few of these exam students to assess their positions on the entire situation.

Donlee Castelo of Queens College, said “I have mixed feelings about this entire situation as part of me wants to get my examinations over with and another I’m really upset as little attention is paid towards mental health. Since the ministry is in a rush to get SBAs and IAs ready there is no better way than to have face-to-face interactions. As a CAPE student I had to write a module exam which plays a major role for my final grade. It was a really tough call, preparing and going through the examination process. Before the examination, just like many others, I haven’t left my home and being able to go to school after such a long time was very eye-opening. I realised that despite measures were put in place to facilitate social distancing, it is difficult for a student to incorporate such. The ministry can only do so much, but can they really protect us from this virus?”

“I’m really excited to see my friends again. That’s the only good thing I would say,” said LaShelle Williams, a West Demerara Secondary CSEC student.

“Because most of their home situations are not as good per se, so I’m really glad they could escape that condition. But for school I’m scared. So much [sic] risks involved in this; what if something bad happens, and not just to me to the other students and teachers that’ll be going back to school. I really feel like this is unfair to us. All the pressure on our backs added to the pressure of doing well and to even succeed. To be honest I just want to get this stress, frustration and fatigue over with; I’m really exhausted from all of this. And to add to that a lot of schools haven’t provided any proper type of online classes, some schools none at all. And I’m sure there are some schools where the teachers haven’t finished the syllabi for their subjects yet and to pack everything into the three weeks. That’s just so much more pressure.”

Samuel Boucher, a Lower Sixth student of the Bishops High School, said he doesn’t see the need to reopen the schools considering how well the online classes have been going and the health risks that threaten their lives.

“They’ve followed safety precautions in the classroom, but they haven’t considered they are putting some students who have to take public transportation to and from school at risk. The number of cases in Guyana are now starting to decrease, and we’ve seen multiple examples around the world of countries opening certain places and experiencing a large increase of cases, so letting schoolchildren out is just increasing the chances of us having more COVID-19 cases,” Boucher said
In addition to the health issues, the student questions “how is one teacher– assuming there’s one teacher who teaches exam level for each subject– supposed to teach about three-four rooms of 15 students the same amount of work in the even shorter time administrated to them now? My class has approximately 45 students, so that’s 15 students in three classrooms; maybe they’re going to just rotate and just teach the same thing over three times, but personally the online class where they can teach all 45 students in one sitting for an appropriate time is much better. Even Though they are taking safety precautions in the classrooms, the thought of me being exposed and at risk for catching this virus, just at the back of my head might cause me to focus on that more than the exam.”

Meanwhile, Delicia Cameron who is also from the same school as Boucher, said that she doesn’t see how the COVID-19 measure will be adhered to by a group of adolescent friends in school together.

“I don’t see how that is going to work out because they say to avoid mass gatherings, yet they’re gathering us. I know for sure that social-distancing thing not gonna work out, cause it’s school for crying out loud. Everybody frenzy. I get they’re trying to push to get the exams over with, but health should be the number one priority right now. Education is important yes, but health is of more importance, at least right now,” she said.
A student who wishes to remain anonymous, said “I’ve actually been to school before the scheduled date for reopening. I was scared at first, but it was for an exam so I focused mainly on the exam rather than the mask and all of the other things. At our school they have a system. When you enter the compound they check our temperature, you wash your hands and then you’re fully sanitised from your bag to your shoes.”

However, pertaining to Monday’s return, the student said “I’m not too sure if I’ll be going since my teachers haven’t said anything as yet. I’m still scared because I don’t know where all my classmates have been, where the teachers have been, persons could be carriers and I’m afraid of risking the health of my family members just to go to school. I don’t believe we need to return because the online classes are quite fine for me. I understand the point of getting students comfortable with the situation of wearing masks all the time during an exam, but I believe that the students would become complacent with the situation and just start congregating and returning to normalcy.”

Jayda Overton, of Central High, shared similar sentiments. “I’m set to write CSEC and I feel as though writing the exams put us the students at risk. I am very concerned health wise as it isn’t really safe for us, the future generation to write exams at such a worrisome time,” she said.

Additionally, there are some concerns about the change in format for the exams.
Overton said “I am also worried about CSEC’s decision to do only paper ones when paper ones aren’t exactly the best mode of testing, as it may not efficiently test all topic areas and may put additional pressure on students . The syllabus was not completed and the online learning is not as effective as classroom-learning. With the circumstances at hand, I feel as if my performance in the exams may be hindered. I just hope that enough precautions are taken to prevent further spread of the ongoing pandemic.”

Another student also mentioned the change in format. She said, “the way CXC changed from a paper two to paper one and IAs only has majorly affected us. It has its pros and cons. For example the Pure Math IA weighting has went up since it would be considered our paper two and the IAs are usually pretty tough, so it places persons at more of a disadvantage. Also, some persons would prefer to have a paper two because they can better explain themselves and even put something on the paper to get a mark with the paper one if you’re right then you’re right.”

Another Bishop’s student, Jennay Duke, said she will be attending school for the exam and not the classes.

“I honestly feel that it’s very irresponsible and negligent to allow students to attend school physically despite the positive feedback we’ve received on the impact of COVID-19 in Guyana. I won’t be attending school because there is no certainty about the situation I would be putting myself in and it’s a huge risk. I prefer to stay at home and study on my own and be 100% sure about not getting the virus. However, I will be attending school only on the days that I am absolutely required to sit my exams,” Duke said.
Meanwhile, Leshanah Bindah said though she is worried, the school environment will be best for her preparation.

“I am worried yes, because I’ll have to use public transportation but in my home the exams are more important at the moment. I guess being at school could give me four hours of quiet time to study,” Bindah said.

There were other students who confessed about their living conditions and the implications on their ability to get quality school work done. These students, despite the health risks, prefer to be at school, as they believe they will stand a better chance at doing well in the exams.