And Dr Zabaneh has the support of his cabinet colleague, the Minister of Youth, Kevin Bernard. He told us today that if the matter were to go to Cabinet, he would vote in favor of it. He says he too has been a victim of the pressure that comes along with standardized testing, which can lead to unfavorable results despite how prepared a student is.
Hon Kevin Bernard, Minister of Youth
"When I left primary school, I was always a top student, I was a top student in my primary school, there was a circumstance but then I went into high school, I was accept to high school, I topped all my courses in high school, but like I said, at that time we were taking the BNSE, if I had used the BNSE grade that I had gotten, I could go further on why that probably happened, probably I would have never been given the opportunity to do what I want to do. The thing is, PSE, BJAT, whatever it is, these are some examinations sometimes you put the child or the student at a very strenuous, you know they are trying to study hard and get this grade to beat this one or beat that one when at the end of the day, these students may have been doing very well all along and just that one day, the pressure that is upon them, they do not succeed to what they want to. So we should never just go by that, we should look at their record, we should look at the child performance throughout the years in high school and primary school and use that as a basis so I encourage that, I totally support that."
"I believe if the minister is saying it, then I believe it is something that he probably will bring to Cabinet and I will support it if he should bring that to cabinet."
He also gave his thoughts on the case of regional exams that students who want to go abroad must take.
Hon Kevin Bernard, Minister of Youth
"I believe that we have to look at it in all angles because yes we are looking at it from our Belizean scope but if it's required in the Caribbean, then those students who want to farther their studies in that Caribbean, then they know that they will need to take that exam, they will need to excel, they will need to do what they need to do but we need to nurture our young people and not put fear into hem and say if you don't take this exam now you are not going to go into your high school or sixth form here in Belize but if you know you want to further your studies outside of the country and that's a requirement then you need to fulfill that requirement. It's not to say that our Caribbean brothers' institution may likely start to think along the same route. We don't know but for now in Belize I am saying if our young people students needs to go from one level to the next, that shouldn't be a barrier to them, that should look at something you look at what they do throughout the years make that assessment and then give them that opportunity."
