Just over 1700 Grade 6 students across St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), began sitting the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) yesterday at 18 centres.

The 1702 students wrote their Social Studies and Math papers on Thursday, and will complete the examinations today, May 5, with the Language Arts and Science papers.

At the start of the two-day annual exercise yesterday, excited and even anxious parents ensured their charges were early to be settled into their assigned centre. Many huddled under umbrellas to shelter from the morning rain.

SEARCHLIGHT spoke to some of the parents at schools in the capital, Kingstown, about their preparations, support, and responsibilities as they waited for their children to exit the exam rooms and share about their performance on the two papers done on the first day.

Some parents noted that the child’s education is not solely the responsibility of the teachers as they believe that

in most cases, a successful child always has a parental figure who is involved in the details of their lives.

In fact some of the parents told SEARCHLIGHT that the quality of a child’s performance is dependent on how involved a parent is in their child’s life.

PHYLICIA ALEXANDER

Phylicia Alexander, the mother of Aginene Alexander, a student of the C.W. Prescod Primary School said she believes that parental involvement is very important because a child tends to excel when they have a supportive parent.

“And sometimes when they see other parents coming out and support their children, they feel left out, so it is very important for parents to be involved not only at home, but also be involved in meetings at schools and encourage your children, have a good relationship with the schools because we notice that is why Grammar School and Girls’ High School, those top schools have been so successful, because the parents are very involved.”

Delroy Haywood whose son, Josiah also attends the C.W Prescod Primary School agreed about the importance of a parent’s role in a child’s life, noting that parents cannot leave everything up to the teachers.

DELROY HAREWOOD

“… Sometimes you have to … have some kind of balance … because you have your two, three children at home; sometimes it is difficult for you to deal with them and teachers have to go with thirty something. Don’t leave up everything for the teachers. I never did. I never go to a secondary school or college, but I promised myself that I will make sure by the help of God that all my children will go and have a good education, whether it’s secondary or tertiary education,” Haywood said.

Oris Robinson is the father of Kyle Robinson, a student at the Kingstown Preparatory School who is writing the CPEA this year. Robinson said his son struggled most during the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, a period he felt most teachers were not prepared for.

ORIS ROBINSON

“I also had to try and patch in at times because of COVID and the volcanic eruption. They lost some valuable instructional time in the classroom, and looking at past papers and so. I felt I needed just to put in a little bit more to assist with the teacher’s delivery … I didn’t really think that most teachers were ready to deliver on an online platform to make it as effective as it should be, so … I think … it wasn’t 100 percent,” he said. Robinson added that his son also required spectacles to make it easier to deal with his school work.

Kyle, who spoke to SEARCHLIGHT after the examination on Thursday, said it was “non-stop work” during his preparations, but he was receiving assistance from his parents. He felt good about the papers he wrote on Thursday and said he was not at all nervous going into the exam room.

Kevin Bailey, father of Katriel Bailey of the Kingstown Preparatory School who set a new Girls’ 11-15 high jump mark of 1.35 metres earlier this year in the Inter-Schools Sports was sitting on a wall outside of the school waiting for his daughter to exit the exam room.

KEVIN BAILEY

He told SEARCHLIGHT “This is what seven years of preparation have finally come to, this final day, and we’re excited to get it all over and done with.”

He observed that many parents would not have been outside of the school for various reasons, but as a supportive father in all aspects of his child’s educational and sporting endeavours he thought his daughter should see both parents waiting for her when she leaves the examination room.

“I think that’s critical in a child’s development to see both parents be here … There’s a cross section of things that are dispersed where mom would miss certain aspects dad will chip in, so it gives a broader spectrum of things to understand as such or to assist in whichever weak area a parent might have, so the other parent can pick up the slack…”.

A total of 846 boys and 856 girls are registered for this year’s CPEA which accounts for 60 per cent of the overall mark. The School-based component, an internal on-going assessment, accounts for 40 per cent of the final mark. Results of the CPEA are expected to be ready by June.