FROM as early as 07:45hrs pupils in East Berbice, Corentyne, began making their way to their respective schools to write the National Grade Six Assessment on Wednesday.

Decked in their uniforms, and observing COVID-19 protocols, the pupils with anxious but supportive parents and guardians made their way to schools on day one of the two-day programme to write English Language and Science papers 1 & 2. On Thursday they will write Mathematics and Social Studies papers 1&2, thereby completing the assessment.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Shamkumarie Balgobin, a parent of a pupil of the Kildonan Primary School said she has been working with her daughter during the past four months on revision and she is relieved that she is finally being able to write the examinations. “We are happy to get this over with because we were so stressed out, it’s like a big weight lift from we shoulders. Them children happy
they can just write the exam and relax when it done”.

Balgobin added she was thankful that the Ministry of Education opted to open school on June 15 so learners could have benefitted from revision with their teachers. She added, she was scared of sending her daughter at first, but after she had the chance to see the setup that the ministry implemented, she felt pleased. Since the announcement that schools would be opened to facilitate revision for the NGSA, CSEC and CAPE, and in light of COVID-19, The Department of Education in Region 6, along with the Regional Health Services, has begun a sanitisation exercise at schools across the county. A hand-washing facility was installed at each school and a community health worker was assigned to check the temperature of students, teachers and anyone entering the compound of the school.

Many parents also took timeout to prepare special meals for their children to take to school and helped to make them as comfortable as possible. Shamkumarie prepared chicken chowmein for her daughter as that is her favorite meal. Throughout the region, and across Guyana, pupils were screened before they made their way to the examination rooms.