Decision pending

Another BSSEE concludes with no final word on when exam will be scrapped 

By Anesta Henry

The results of the 2023 Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination (BSSEE) will be back by August, but Barbadians will have to wait longer than that to find out whether the national examination for Class 4 students will be back next year.

However, early indications from both Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw and Minister of Education Kay McConney are that despite ongoing talks about abolishing the test, it will be used for at least another year.

Speaking to the media at the Springer Memorial School on Tuesday, as more than 3 000 students sat the exam at 21 secondary schools/exam centres, Archer-Bradshaw indicated there would be a debriefing following this year’s examination and there was a possibility there would be a BSSEE in 2023.

Minister of Education Kay McConney further declared that the process of eliminating the exam, commonly called the Common Entrance or 11-plus Exam, would not be rushed.

She said while the Ministry had started to consult with various stakeholders regarding education reform, efforts have intensified over the past few months, with meetings being held with teachers, principals and parents, among others.

“What we will do next now is go to public consultation, and it is out of this process that we will be able to tell you what will be the final decision coming out of the feedback and the analysis and the determination that will have to be made,” McConney said.

“The intention is to go to the public consultation after Crop Over is done because what will happen is some of the feedback that has come out of consultations with our stakeholders is now being input into the document that we have. And we have said that we want to go back to the teachers and the principals before we then go back to the public with something that is more concrete.

“We know that with Crop Over in Barbados, nobody is paying attention once the calypso and the soca start. So we have determined that as soon as we get out of that season of celebration, we will then go to the public consultations,” the Education Minister added.

Meanwhile, Archer-Bradshaw told members of the media that even though the examination was held in June this year instead of May, the results were expected to be released in about five weeks.

“Give us until August, that will be sufficient time. Because we are administering the exam much later this time around, we will get the results later as well. But I believe that a month is still enough time for the parents to get all of the necessities for the child to transition into secondary school,” she said.

Archer-Brashaw appealed to parents to be understanding and allow the Ministry to facilitate the process of having the examination papers corrected in addition to the assessment and evaluation of the results.

“So bear with us as we work on that, but we will try to do it as expeditiously as we can. We understand that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the children’s ability to grasp certain content and, as a result, the Ministry of Education made the decision to adjust the content in the syllabus, and we also made the decision to defer the Common Entrance Examination so that children can have the maximum contact time,” the Chief Education Officer said.

Speaking after the conclusion of the BSSEE, Minister McConney said she was looking forward to the results, as she reported that from all accounts, the staging of the exam was successful.

She said education officers, all the way up to the senior level, were deployed at each examination centre to ensure that the process and protocols were followed.

“We are happy to say that it appears as if this 2023 Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination has gone forward relatively smoothly. Of course, there are things we will discover after that we do not now know but, for the most part, I can say it went successfully,” Minister McConney said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb