The family of the 10-year-old boy who was told he had to leave the examination room in Santa Rosa, in the Moruca sub-district of Region One, where he was preparing to write the National Grade Six Assessment, was never told that he was not going to be allowed to sit the exams.
On Wednesday afternoon, this newspaper was informed that a student in Santa Rosa was prohibited from sitting the National Grade Six Assessment examination. While the reason was unclear, the family related that it could have been because the child’s parents had tested positive for COVID-19 and were being kept at one of the COVID-19 isolation facilities in Santa Rosa.
However, it must be noted that the family has said that the health officials in the region did not advise that the family be quarantined, although they took it upon themselves to do so.
A relative related that the child’s parents, who tested positive some three weeks ago, were never told that he or his two siblings had to go into quarantine. But after having knowledge about COVID-19, they decided to self-quarantine at their home. The woman said that the family’s house is in close proximity to the secondary school where the exams were executed, therefore the family could have easily been advised on what to do on exam day.
She then explained that on Wednesday, the boy went to school as he was excited to sit the exam but after successfully passing through all the necessary protocols, he was told he could not write it because he had been in contact with someone from Aranka. This, the family said, was not possible since the child hasn’t left his grandparents’ home in the weeks since his parents were taken to the isolation facility. She also said that no visitors were at the home and further stated that they don’t know anyone from Aranka. “His mother said she didn’t even know that place exist until he told them what the nurse told him,” she said.
She noted that he was already in class when he was approached by a nurse who told him the bad news. Additionally, she explained that the boy’s parents did not want him to sit the exam but based on his excitement and readiness to take it, he went on the day, only to be removed from the class while he was writing his name. “It broke his heart,” she explained.
However, the Senior Public Relations Officer at the Education Ministry Brushell Blackman told this newspaper that the student was prevented from writing the exam upon instructions from the Regional Health Officials. He also said that the child was supposed to be in quarantine, according to information related to him.
But the relative maintained that neither the health service providers in the region nor any other health officer informed the family that the child and his two other siblings needed to be placed in quarantine. The family took it upon themselves to do so.
Following the two weeks, the children remained indoors and up until the day of the exam the boy hadn’t been in contact with anybody.
Another relative in a Facebook post about the situation complained that the Education System denied the child the right to write the exam while persons were sent to invigilate at schools around the district, after short notice, while they were untested.
Graham Atkinson, the project coordinator of the Amerindian People’s Association, told this newspaper that there was not enough time to properly prepare for the writing of the exams since the region was in lockdown and he also raised the concerns about persons possibly not being tested before being sent to invigilate.
Whether these persons were tested is still unclear.
The grade six student will be placed at a secondary school close to his home and will be allowed the option of writing the placement test after completing one year at the secondary schools he is placed at, on the condition that he fits certain criteria.
