18,000 get SEA results today

The wait is finally over for thousands of primary school students as the results of the Secondary Entrance Assessment exams would be released by the Ministry of Education today.

In a statement yesterday the ministry advised principals of primary and secondary schools to collect these results by 10.30 am today at the educational district offices. Private candidates are also asked to collect their results from the district offices.

These offices are:

* Caroni Education District, Couva

* North Eastern Education District, Sangre Grande

* Port-of-Spain and Environs, Port-of-Spain

* St George East Education District, Tunapuna

* St Patrick Education District, San Fernando

* South Eastern Education District, Princes Town

* Victoria Education District, San Fernando

* Tobago Education District, Scarborough.

The results are to be distributed to an estimated 18,000 primary school students who wrote the assessment examination on April 6.

The ministry is expected to announce the name of the top SEA pupil and the school which he or she attended today.

As schools prepare to receive the results TTUTA president Clive Permell yesterday extended his best wishes to the pupils and expressed hope that the process of distributing the results goes smoother than the “virtual chaos which was the national test.” Permell was referring to late delivery of the tests of mathematics and Language Arts which standards one and three pupils sat on Tuesday. In Tobago yesterday, the standard one pupils wrote the Mathematics and those in standard three the Language Arts as those papers were not available on Tuesday.

Assistant secretary of the Primary Schools Principals Association and principal of Tunapuna Boys’ RC School Trevor Oliver said yesterday his staff and pupils were quite excited about the results, especially since the school began a reading campaign in October 2005. Oliver, a former TTUTA president, expects the results to be “very good” nationwide.

The programme, Reading—The Epicentre of Learning, was also introduced at several schools late last year and it included the expansion of schools libraries, silent reading teachers and the sharing of ideas among schools on the best ways to improve literacy.

Oliver expressed his best wishes to all students and said the important thing is not what secondary school a child is assigned to but the use of literacy to further educational pursuits.

He added there was a need to harness the energy of the Soca Warriors’ noble effort at the football World Cup in Germany and transfer that discipline into a passion for reading.

He also had some words of advice for parents saying they should support their children no matter which school they are placed in.