Big Days for Grade Six Students

ON WEDNESDAY AND Thursday of this week- May 13 and 14, 2026, a total of 1766 Primary School Grade-6 students across St Vincent and the Grenadines will, along with thousands of others across the Caribbean, face their biggest exam challenge in the annual sitting of the CPEA. The Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment, that accounts for 60% of overall marks in the child’s final exam to determine entrance into secondary school, will be sat at 18 Centres statewide.

Undoubtedly, it is an event which our pre-teens look forward to, but one that can also generate varying levels of stress and anxiety. This is where the positive energy of adults- parents, guardians, and teachers- is critically important as the most confident of student could suddenly be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.

Generally, parents turn out to support their children, ensuring they are hydrated and fed after the exams. But, not all parents bring a positive energy, and a student who is already unnerved by the exams, could fall apart.What students require at this time is not the repeat of threats of what to expect if they do not succeed in the exams; rather an affirming, encouraging word will work miracles and serve to put the child in the mental state to grab hold of and demolish the exams.

Quite apart from the bragging rights that schools seek, teachers are y very supportive of their charges with high expectations for very good outcomes, even among those whose work had to be buttressed with extra support over the course of preparation for the assessment.

An examination of the numbers who entered for the CPEA over the past five years, shows that the sexes are rather evenly balanced. Of 1895 students who sat the exam in 2021,

there were 961 males and 934 females. In 2022 the overall figure sitting the exam was 1714 of which there were 864 males and 850 females.The total figure in 2023 was 1702 of which 846 were male and 856 were female. In 2024, of the 1745 students entered for the exams, 873 were male and 872 female; and in 2025, there was a total number of 1691 students sitting the exams, of which 871 were males and 820 female.

With universal access to secondary education being a given in St Vincent and the Grenadines for several years now, each student is guaranteed a space in a secondary school. However, by the end of the secondary school journey, many of our male students are no longer productively engaged in educational pursuits. In fact, while the issue of lack of someone to provide supervision for a child at the end of the school day still drives the reluctance of parents to have their child enrolled in a primary school in the area where they live, a fundamentally different set of factors propel the argument regarding placement at the secondary level. But, that is a matter which will assume more focus after the results of the CPEA are released. Now, as students wind down and ensure they are well rested for the two days of assessment, it is worth reminding parents and guardians again that there should be no threats to children of performance-related punishment.We at Searchlight wish our Grade Sixers every success in their 2026 exams.