FROM welcoming the announcement, to confessing to feeling bouts of trepidation, parents of students in grades four and five have been reacting to the news that the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) Performance Task examinations for grades four and five pupils have been pushed back.

“The postponement provides the opportunity for students and teachers to benefit from additional preparation time and to be provided with psychosocial care throughout the period of preparation. It is hoped that this will enable their readiness,” the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information’s director of corporate communications, Colin Steer, told Career & Education.

Adding that there are ongoing Performance Task empowerment sessions for students and teachers, Steer said it was proffered that both cohorts of students needed more preparation time given the disruptions brought by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in limited access to consistent learning opportunities for some students.

Agreeing with the decision, Georgette Wardlow, parent of a grade four student at Excel Pre & Preparatory School in Kingston, said her child, and others, will now have more time to study.

“It would give them a little more time to be prepared,” she said, adding that she “will help to reinforce what was taught on a daily basis.”

Larose Sutherland, guardian of a grade four student at Padmore Primary School in St Andrew, said she, too, had no issues with the push back.

“[But] the Government needs to ensure that all children are getting equal opportunities,” she said.

Though offering that the constant changes (to assessment dates because of COVID) could be a bit confusing, Caviene Christie, who homeschools her 10-year-old daughter who is at the grade five level, said it will provide students with better opportunities to prepare for the examinations.

“I am sure that a lot of parents still don’t understand. It would mean that the children are going into grade six and they would have to be assessed for grade five work and then they will also be assessed for grade six work. The teachers will have to prepare the children for two sets of tests… I am wondering if there was enough thought put into it,” she said.

Christie is also suggesting that children should only be assessed for their new grade level exams next academic year.

Meanwhile, another parent commended the efforts of the teachers at her child’s school, who have been working with the students non-stop, even as the dates keep changing for their assessments.

Althea Burke, who has a daughter in grade five at Airy Castle Primary School in St Thomas, said despite online learning challenges spawned by the pandemic, the teachers have been doing a good job.

“This online teaching and learning process is really a strain. To lead so many students from that platform, they need a ‘big up’,” Burke told Career & Education.

“They have really made some selfless sacrifices over the period. Now, [for the postponement], they will have to push more with the children. It is a good thing, it actually gives the teachers more time to liaison with the students to ensure that they are adequately prepared.”

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information announced two Fridays ago that it had postponed the sitting of all the remaining national assessments at the primary level until the latter half of the Christmas term of the upcoming 2021/2022 academic year.

In a bulletin, it stated that the decision was taken after a series of consultations with key stakeholders and consultant psychometricians concerning the administration of the 2021 sitting of PEP grades four and five assessments.

The assessments to be postponed include the Grade Three Diagnostic Test, the Grade Four Performance Tasks, and the Grade Five Performance Tasks.

Based on this decision, boards of management/principals of schools that have been approved by the Ministry of Health and Wellness as COVID-19 compliant should ensure that all grades four and five students are scheduled for face-to-face instruction in preparation for their examinations.