By Sue-Ann Wayow
MORE than 19,000 Standard Five pupils wrote the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) on Thursday under strict health and safety protocols.
There were 19, 656 registered pupils – 9,905 boys and 9,751 girls. Tobago has 1,064 candidates and Trinidad has 18, 592.
Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly wished all children the best as they prepared for the exam on Thursday morning.
President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) Antonia de Freitas also wished all pupils well.
Dr Gadsby-Dolly visited two schools before the exam, San Juan Seventh Day Adventist Primary School and Tranquillity Government Primary School.
During her visits she said, “We see that the schools are in full preparation mood for the exam. The children are out. They have all their protocols in place in terms of health and safety, the spacing in terms of how they lay out the desk and chairs that is in order in line with health regulations.”
She added, “The children seem to be quite excited and happy to be out today for the examination, the parents as well and of course the Ministry is very happy to have this exam today. It has been an uncertain time for our students, they have not been in school since March of 2020 so we are very happy to do that.
Dr Gadsby-Dolly also thanked the ministry’ staff for working extra hard under the difficult circumstances. She also had praises for the teachers, parents and pupils for showing resilience and ensuring that the exam was done on Thursday.
Pupils who wrote last year’s exam have still not been able to attend physical classes in their new secondary schools as the country still battles the Covid-19 pandemic.
Results are expected in second week of September.
