Common Entrance Exams set for July 1 and 2; Schools to be reopened for exam preparations only from June 8

As part of the preparations for the common entrance and other national examinations, schools will reopen their doors from the 8th June to the 15th August to cater specifically for students preparing for the Common Entrance and CXC examinations.

Common Entrance Exams set for July 1 and 2; Schools to be reopened for exam preparations only from June 8

The Ministry of Education has decided that the National Grade Six Assessment Examinations, popularly known as common entrance, will take place on the 1st and 2nd July, senior Education officials have confirmed to News Source.

The examinations were originally scheduled for the 8th and 9th April but were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

As part of the preparations for the common entrance and other national examinations, schools will reopen their doors from the 8th June to the 15th August to cater specifically for students preparing for the Common Entrance and CXC examinations.

While schools will reopen for face to face sessions between the teachers and students, classes will not be held daily, News Source understands.

The Education Ministry is expected to have the order for the examinations gazetted on Wednesday and the Ministry will reveal its plans for the safe sitting of the exams at a press conference later this week.

News Source has learnt that under the order, no more than fifteen students will be permitted to be seated in a classroom at any one time for the classroom sessions and the exams and they must be seated at least six feet apart from each other.

In keeping with the efforts to fight the coronavirus, all schools must have stations for handwashing with a regular supply of soap and running water.

The schools will also have to have an area designated as a waiting area for when students arrive at school and before they enter the examination rooms.

Floor markings will have to be put in place to ensure students are always six feet apart from each other and the invigilators will have to place the exam papers on the desks in the classrooms before the students arrive, to ensure distancing between the students and the invigilators.

All students, teachers and invigilators will have to be wearing face masks once they are in the school compound and their temperatures will be checked at the entrance to the examinations centre.

Medical personnel from the community where the examination centres are located will also be stationed at the schools for the days of the exams.

School cleaners will be trained in the proper sanitisation of the classrooms in keeping with the health measures and vending will only be allowed for those authorized canteen vendors who are allowed within the school compound.

Parents are being encouraged to pick up their children promptly once the examinations are over. The Education Ministry intends to provide transportation for those vulnerable students.

All of the measures to cater for the sitting of the national examinations will be gazetted and released to the public this week.

Schools in Guyana have been closed since March when national emergency measures to deal with the coronavirus were instituted as the country recorded its first case.

Many teachers have been conducting online classes for their students while the Ministry of Education has made preparation material available on its website and social media pages.

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