As schools close again, students buckle down for new test
Published:Tuesday | March 23, 2021 | 12:19 AM
Shanae Smith, an 11th-grader at Dunoon Park Technical High School, attended face-to-face classes up to last Thursday in preparation for external examinations.
That routine has been brought to a screeching halt by the Holness administration’s decision to close all schools for the next three weeks. The on-again, off-again academic year has been victim to coronavirus containment measures with each new wave of infections.
Jamaica has recorded almost 36,000 cases, with 536 deaths.
Shanae said that she cannot afford to waste the three-week window with exams fast approaching.
“I will be watching videos on YouTube pertaining to the subjects that I’m doing. I also plan to set up a schedule where I study and take breaks to eat,” she told The Gleaner.
Shanae conceded that she still has challenges staying focused in online classes but she tries to grasp as much as she can.
Won’t defer exams
Students have up to May 1 to defer their exams to 2022 without penalty and also have their SBA grades transferred, but Smith will not be taking up on that option.
The 17-year-old will be sitting five subjects in the June-July Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations.
Her mother, Maxine Poyser, said she plans to boost the moral support she gives to her daughter as she prepares to sit the exams.
“I want to see her study and be successful in her CXC. In the morning, I see to it that she studies and goes online before I come out of the house,” the Trench Town resident said.
For Enid Hosin, the mother of a Primary Exit Profile exam student, the three-week closure of schools for face-to-face classes will have no impact on her daughter.
Hosin’s daughter has been attending school solely online.
“I see to it that she does more reading and tek up her textbooks dem. Her older sister sits down with her for online classes,” the Waterhouse, St Andrew, resident said.
She added that a neighbour sometimes opens up her home for evening classes where she checks the children’s books and gives clarity to areas they may not have understood in online classes.
“We just have to encourage our children and tell them that what’s happening is just because of the pandemic and try to help them focus,” Hosin said.