A sum of $125 million has been approved by Cabinet to help improve the primary level performances. This disclosure was made by Minister of State Joseph Harmon who, at a Post Cabinet press briefing this week informed that CXC has been recruited to deliver its consultancy services for the administration of the National Grades Two, Four and Six Assessments.
Harmon said that the funds will be handed over to the Ministry of Education, which will be tasked with expending same.
Poor performance in Mathematics at the National Grade Six Assessment [NGSA] level was last year considered a matter of national urgency by Cabinet. It was underscored even then that the daunting performance requires Government’s focused attention and commitment to finding adequate and appropriate solutions in the shortest possible time.
Members of Cabinet had moreover met and deliberated “as a matter of extreme urgency and grave national importance,” the unsatisfactory results in Mathematics nationwide.
The 2016 NGSA was written on April 27 and 28. A total of 14,386 candidates were assessed in the subject areas of Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and English Language.
While the performance in English Language and Social Studies had been consistent with previous years, this was not the same for Mathematics and Science last year. Both fell below what was obtained in previous years.
The 2017 NGSA, which commenced Wednesday and concluded Thursday, saw the participation of a total of 13,657 pupils.
In recognition of the shortcoming, the Ministry of Education had solicited the support of CXC to help conduct the assessment for the Grade Six pupils last year. This support continued this year.
The basis of the assessment used by CXC was radically different from what was used previously by the Ministry of Education. What was observed last year was an increased focus on reasoning and a decreased emphasis on retention.
Moreover, the new method to testing as implemented by CXC exposed even more, the weakness of the previous approach to education that was adopted by the Ministry of Education in previous years.
It is expected that with the support of CXC the results this year will show significant improvement.