By Sue-Ann Wayow
MORE than 10 per cent of children who wrote the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) this year will have to re-take the exam in 2023.
This was announced by Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly at a press conference on Friday.
The SEA results were released online at 12.01 am on Friday.
Dr Gadsby-Dolly said, “The number of students that have to re-sit SEA in 2022, the percentage is 10.3% of those who wrote compared to 2021 which was 5.8 % and 2020 where the level was 2.6%.”
Acknowledging the disappointment of the parents, she said, “This is another chance for them to gain mastery of fundamental subjects that they would need for life.”
She said, “This particular cohort who wrote the SEA 2022 would have been engaged in online learning for the past two years. They would have been in their second term of Standard Three when schools closed.”
Dr Gadsby-Dolly also revealed other statistics.
She said the percentage of pupils scoring above 90% was 0.47% compared to 2021 of 3%.
“What these statistics show is a clear reduction in achievement and that certainly can be linked to the learning loss which has been predicted globally and locally due to the lack of face-to-face schooling,” the minister said.
In 2022, however, the number of pupils passing for their first choice was 21.6% as compared to 20.2% in 2021 and 19.1% in 2020.
Top pupils would not be publicised
Dr Gadsby-Dolly also announced that for the 2022 SEA examination, the top-placed pupils will not be publicised.
She said, “This public practice has resulted in students who have performed admirably, even to secure a second place in their first-choice secondary school, to have their performances overshadowed by an unhealthy competitiveness, often driven by parents, over relative examination scores, which are preliminary.”
Dr Gadsby-Dolly said the ministry was extremely concerned that the practice could put undue pressure on the children and potentially diminish their self-worth.
