The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE MINISTRY of Education yesterday announced that three national examinations have been rescheduled due to their clash with the May 10 date for the 2017 general elections.

The Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) subject papers for Graphical Communication and Music will now be held on June 7, and the Grade Level Assessment Test (GLAT) has been rescheduled to May 15 to May 19.

A notice was sent out yesterday to principals and examination supervisors at government and private schools yesterday, and apologised for any inconvenience caused by the date change.

The Graphical Communication Paper 2 will start at 9am, and the Music paper is slated for 1pm on Wednesday, June 7.

The GLAT exam will begin on May 15, and testing will end on May 18 for Grade 3 students, and on May 19 for Grade 6 students.

Yesterday, Education director Lionel Sands noted that schools across the country are making good progress on recovering time lost during school closures in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew last October.

Public schools in New Providence, Grand Bahama and Central Andros were closed for nearly three weeks, with the exception of Government High School in the capital and Walker Parker Primary in Grand Bahama, which were the hardest hit by Hurricane Matthew.

Mr Sands said: “We’ve done quite a bit to catch up on days lost as a consequence of extra time teachers have been putting in. We’ve not fully caught up but we are catching up, so by the end of the school year we would have caught up.

He continued: “I certainly wish to express my deep gratitude to the teachers who have been so good at helping us recovering days we lost as a consequence of the storm, giving up time during lunch break, after school, some even on weekends.”