Schools closed until September 7

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has hinted that he will be pushing for a delay in the holding of CSEC examinations when he meets with other CARICOM heads later this month.

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) - the regional governing body - has proposed that the exams be held in June/July or September/October, as well as the administration of multiple choice papers, either online or paper-based.

Holness, speaking during his weekly COVID-19 post-cabinet press conference yesterday, said the Government has "considered it and we always want to give our students as much time as possible".

The CXC last week issued timetables indicating to students that they would be sitting exams in June and July.

Meanwhile, Karl Samuda, Jamaica's de facto education minister, announced yesterday that schools would remain closed until the next school year, beginning September 7.

Performance

He said that students entering high schools would be placed based on their performance in PEP at the Grade Four (2018) and Grade Five (2019) levels as well as the Grade Six Ability Test done in February.

The Education Ministry said it would announce the placements on June 26.

"We recognise that it is not as scientifically based as the previous years, and we are expecting that it will return to normalcy next year, but this year, we cannot do anything that will compromise the progress for our children, so we are going to use this technique," Samuda said.

Schools have been closed since March 11, a day after the first case of the novel coronavirus was detected on the island. However, the Government has been encouraging the concept of distance learning, which is being facilitated via the Internet.

Samuda said that it was hoped that resumption would have taken place on June 1, but that is not possible. He said, however, that online and distance learning would continue until July 3.

Despite the efforts though, an estimated 31,000 children have been missing out on the teaching and learning process due to the absence of Internet service in their communities.