By the time the latest batch of Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) students writes the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC), the examination will be done online.
The exciting prospect for T&T’s educational future was revealed by Education Minister Anthony Garcia yesterday at the Southern Academy for Performing Arts in San Fernando where the top 200 SEA students were rewarded for their feats. Noting that $7.5 billion was recently allocated towards education in the national budget, Garcia said it was an indicator that the Government was putting a tremendous focus on education. Therefore, he said teachers and students were being trained in Information and Communications Technology.
“By the time you’re ready to write CSEC, that will be done strictly online. It is because we are in the digital age and if we are to be successful, then we have to make sure that our teachers and our students are able to come to grips with what we are offering. As a result, our teachers are presently trained in the use of technology. To be more precise, in the use of ICT. ICT training is ongoing and we have been able to train more than 1200 of our teachers,” Garcia said.
With this method, the students’ progress in the use of ICT will be tracked by the Ministry. The students’ results will be compared to the results under the old system. Garcia said this may also apply to the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination.
“Since we are doing all of those things for you, you have a responsibility. And your responsibility is to ensure that you pay attention to all the things that are being taught and I am sure that you can do that because we have established that you are bright, very bright.”
He said that Building and Design, Animation, Supply Chain and Logistic Management and Tourism will soon be introduced in the classroom. But while the top students who were celebrated were described as being “ bright”, Garcia said the 2000 students who did not do well in the recent SEA examinations cannot be forgotten. He said that not all students learn at the same rate and the curriculum will soon be adjusted to meet their needs.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis encouraged the students to continue to work hard. Francis told them that if they were able to place in the top 200 in SEA, the odds are good that they will do well in CSEC in five years. For those who move on to CAPE, he said their chances of winning scholarships were also high.