Common Entrance to be held at secondary schools

The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training has
made the decision to administer the Barbados Secondary Schools’
Entrance Examination (BSSEE) at the 21 government secondary schools,
as has been done in previous years.

Acting Chief Education Officer, Joy Adamson, said that while requests
were made for Class Four students to write the examination at their
respective primary schools (101 examcentres) it would create a
logistics challenge. She explained that it would require “extensive
human resources”, including Ministry personnel, supervisors,
invigilators and police officers, which are currently not available.

“The BSSEE 2020 will be administered at the twenty-one government
secondary schools and the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of
Technology (SJPI). Secondary school teachers will supervise the
examination as usual. The administrators at the centres will be
responsible for the layout of the rooms to maintain the required
physical distancing of six feet apart. A police officer will be
stationed at each centre,” Mrs. Adamson stated.

The structure of the exam will also remain the same with students
having 30 minutes to complete the essay, followed by the English
paper, which will be one hour and 20 minutes in duration, and then the
Mathematics paper, which will be allotted one hour and 15 minutes.
There will be a break between the English and Mathematics papers.

Guidelines for the operation of the day will be forwarded to the
parents and guardians of students sitting the exam.