New minister pleased with SEA covid19 precautions

As over 19,000 primary school students prepared to sit the SEA exam on Thursday, new Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said she was pleased with the arrangements in place to uphold public health guidelines at primary schools in Port of Spain.

Speaking with reporters after a brief tour of St Ursula's Anglican School, St Vincent Street, before the exam, Gadsby-Dolly said she was confident there were adequate precautions in place to minimise the spread of the virus among students.

"The school has taken all the necessary precautions, the school has all the sanitising stations and so on.

"There are preparations for the break between the exams as well in terms of supervision for the children to ensure they don't intermingle too much and are socially distant. I think they (the school) would have done the best they can in ensuring the protocols are kept and ensuring our students are the safest they can be this morning ahead of the exam."

After speaking with some of the students, Gadsby-Dolly said they were confident in their ability to do well. She said St Ursula's was selected as the first school on her visit as both her daughters attended it in the past.

"They want it to be over with, of course, because they were at the cusp of doing the exam when school had to be halted, and they seemed to be very prepared. I wanted to see exactly how they felt about the exam. This has been a trying time for them."

Gadsby-Dolly also visited Sacred Hearts Boys' RC School, Richmond Street, where she spoke with children and teachers before the exam.

Newsday spoke to parent Dalia Clarke who said she felt she school had put adequate resources in place.

"I think it was more nerve-racking for me than for my son. He has been dealing with it well. I just hope he is prepared and he will do his best I am sure.

"I think the virtual learning platforms were adequate for the students. Since the end of Standard Four they finished the syllabus so from the start of Standard Five they were doing (past) papers and corrections. So I think they got a good footing. They did implement the Google classroom, so they (teachers) were posting work for them to keep up with it."

Another parent, who asked not to be named, said the transition from in-person teaching to digital lessons was more difficult for his son, who he felt would have benefited more from more traditional teaching.

"It wasn't as easy as with some other children. My son is easily distracted, so it's not as simple as just putting the content out via television or streaming classes. Some children need extra attention, and you can't get that from online learning."