7,000 students sit NCSE exam

The Ministry of Education said a total of 7,000 Form Three secondary students will write the exams, which will end on June 24. The Level One exam is in the following subjects: Science, Social Studies, Spanish, Mathematics, Language Arts, Visual and Performing Arts, Physical Education and Technical Education. The ministry said the exam is a pilot project and forms part of its effort to "reform, expand and modernise secondary education" and is a step in the establishment of a national assessment system. The ministry said the two basic principles of the exam are "equality in access to certification by all students and all skills/knowledge will be observed, measured and certified."

In addition to the NCSE exam, another 15,677 students are also writing the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), national tests, lower secondary examinations, CXC and GCE. GCE ended last Friday.

CAPE was developed by CXC to meet the changing demands of the regional and international environment and was first written last year by 770 students in 19 schools.

This year 4,339 students are writing the exams in 71 schools. The CAPE exams will end on Friday, while CXC ends on Thursday.