KINGSTON, Jamaica — Just over 50 students attending high schools in West Central St Andrew benefitted from special ‘super classes’, as part of their preparations for external examinations scheduled to start on June 28.

The classes, which held on Saturday, June 26, were facilitated by volunteers with the non-profit organisation, Jamaica Millennium Vision for Youth (JMVY).

These were organised at Penwood High School, Seaward Drive Primary and Infant School, and Dupont Primary and Infant School, for candidates in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) tests.

The classes, which ran from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, incorporated tutorial sessions for CSEC Mathematics and English, and Communication Studies and Caribbean Studies at the CAPE level.

Prime Minister and West Central St Andrew Member of Parliament, Andrew Holness, who visited students at Penwood High School, offered them words of encouragement and a distributed tablet computers to youngsters without devices to assist in their preparations.

“Exams are life-determining events. You should approach them with great respect and not take them as a trivial undertaking. However, you cannot allow nervousness to overcome you and cripple you from action,” Holness told them.

The prime minister encouraged the students to pursue excellence in their examinations and master core concepts identified in the curricula.

“Having made the decision to sit the exams, you should be thinking very positively about the outcome; you must make the other decision which is to give it your best shot,” he underscored.

Prime Minister Holness noted that the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), which administers the exams, has indicated that consideration will be given to the psychosocial effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the students, in the grading process.

President of JMVY, Chad Rattray said the classes were also hosted on June 19 at several schools in St Andrew, St Catherine, and Clarendon for approximately 300 students, while advising that tutorial sessions were also conducted online.

“At this time, we have so many issues happening with COVID-19. [So] if we have more persons getting involved and getting a sense of how important it is to give back to society, then Jamaica would be a better place. We view this as one generation helping the next,” he said.

University of Technology (UTech) student majoring in Banking and Finance, Alric Allen, who volunteered to teach CXC/CSEC mathematics, said his strong belief in community service inspired him to assist.

“I [have seen] the need, so I [offered] to help as best as I [could]. Since online schooling [has its challenges] and a lot of students prefer face-to-face [learning], I [tried] to help them gain the knowledge they need,” he said.

Eleventh grade Penwood High student, Ruth-Ann Sullivan, who will be sitting CXC/CSEC Human and Social Biology and Biology, and City and Guilds Mathematics and English, said although she was nervous about taking the exams, the session was helpful.

She pointed out that while the super class was “interesting and very challenging, it has helped me a lot.”  

The regional exams were originally scheduled to begin on June 14, but were delayed in light of COVID-19, and will run until July 31.

The results will be released between the last week of September and the first week of October.

Meanwhile, the rescheduled City and Guilds exams are slated for August 10-11.

— JIS