Lloyd: National 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.