Nat’l exams ‘a success’

Although fewer students sat the 2020 national exams and those who did sit them did worse than the students who took them the year before, Minister of Education Jeffrey Lloyd yesterday declared the entire exam process was “a remarkable accomplishment” and “success”. 

“In December 2020, the results of the national examinations were released and I declare unequivocally that the entire examination exercise was a success,” said Lloyd during a Ministry of Education press conference.

“It was worth the financial, emotional, mental, physical and psychological cost. It was a remarkable accomplishment that has clearly disappointed a fair number of naysayers.

“The task was what it has always been: to ensure that, upon completion of the examiner training, candidate sitting and the marking and grading of the numerous examinations, those who had opted to take them would receive valid and reliable results.”

When asked how education officials were able to conclude that the exams were a success, Evelyn Sawyer, the assistant director of education for the Examination and Assessment Division, replied, “When we talk about the exams being a success, it is more than just looking at the students who got As, Bs, Cs and Ds. We have to look at the mere fact that we were even able to complete the examination.”

Sawyer said the ministry’s ability to administer and complete the exams “makes it a success”.

“A lot of our children do well, but we always concentrate on what we consider to be the students who we say are doing poorly,” Sawyer said.

“But when we consider what our children went through during 2020, it was remarkable that they were even able to write the examination. So, we really don’t have to look at the grades that the children got, but we have to look at the resilience of our children and what they were able to accomplish and this indicates that it was a success.”

The ministry released the results for the national exams on December 23, 2020.

The exams were postponed in March and July 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year’s sitting was the first since Hurricane Dorian ravaged Abaco and Grand Bahama and displaced thousands of people the year before.

Only six percent or 365 of the 6,073 students who sat the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) exams in 2020 received at least a C in five or more subjects.

In 2019, 11.7 percent or 760 of the 6,454 students who sat the exams, received at least a C in five or more subjects.

A total of 598 students obtained a minimum grade of D in at least five subjects last year, representing 9.85 percent of the overall number of students who took the exams.

Education officials said 1,213 students achieved this in 2019.

Yesterday, Lloyd said, “The seven-point grading scale of the BJC (Bahamas Junior Certificate) and BGCSE national examinations (A-G) indicates measures of positive achievement.

“It is not a pass-fail scale and we commend all students who took the exams and showed that their years in school had not been in vain. Across the education system, in both independent and government schools, students achieved grades ranging from A-G, all markers of positive achievement.”

Sawyer said there was “very little difference” in the percentages of students who got A through D on the exams in the last five years.

“When you look at a difference of maybe two or three percent, there’s very little difference,” she said.

The minister noted that members of the public have “highlighted” the decrease in the percentage of students who received at least a C in five or more subjects, at least a D in five or more subjects and the combination of at least a C in mathematics, English language and science. 

“It should be remembered that it has been a trend that fewer candidates take the BGCSE examinations in grade 11 than in grade 12 and that the postponement of the 2020 exams due to the pandemic led to many students being unable to complete the sittings of a number of examinations; or they had entered the workforce or gone off to college,” Lloyd said.

“Remember, too, that candidates were given an option. All of this could have contributed to the high level of absenteeism.”

Of the 4,542 students who registered for BGCSE English, 1,352 were absent, according to Lloyd.

He said 1,317 of the 2,859 students who registered for BGCSE biology and 788 of the 2,102 who registered for BGCSE religious studies were also absent.

Responding to a reporter’s question, Director of Education Marcellus Taylor said the ministry does not regret its decision to hold the exams.

“No, the Department [of Education] and the ministry do not regret giving students the opportunity to demonstrate what they know,” he said.

“There were many students who were able to go into exams and perform and demonstrate that they have certain proficiency and many students are now able to move and go to another phase of life — whether that would be entering the world of work or pursuing further studies. So, no, we don’t regret at all giving people opportunities.” 

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