My memory of the Common Entrance Examination is fast fading, but there are still elements that remain with me.
I got an early start by eating a meal that included a hard-boiled egg and some sort of hot beverage before promptly setting out for the St Leonard’s School.
It was about a ten to 15-minute walk, and along the way, I joined up with other classmates making their way to the examination centre.
We talked about how we were feeling and what we expected to be on the paper, but mostly, we were joking around.
What we did not do was arrive or depart in limousines or other luxury vehicles. At the time, such a thing was just utterly beyond most of our parents’ reach, at least in my circle of friends.
Parents in the circle in which I ran didn’t believe in excess, so you would hardly be rewarded for doing what was expected of you. There was no reward for merely turning up to take the examination.
And I do not recall all the hoopla afterwards.
The best you could hope for was that the meal prepared was one you liked.
Panic
The anxiety would come during the wait for the results when you did or said something silly. Invariably, an adult would shoot back: “Wait till dem results come back and you gine see.”
Well, the panic has set in this week for hundreds of parents, not necessarily the children.
By this week, the results of the Common Entrance Examination should be made public. Already, rumour and speculation have been infused into the process as is the case each year.
Joy will no doubt be overshadowed by disappointment and maybe outright heartbreak as undue emphasis is placed on these results. You would think that life begins and ends at the so-called 11-plus based on the reaction of some people.
Last year, authorities declared that the students taking the 11-plus would be tracked throughout their secondary school life.I am not sure what prompted the announcement but I am hoping that at the end of this first year authorities will release information on the progress of those students.
Curiously, the announcement came after rumblings in some quarters that the examination might have been too easy.
But I believe this time around, all eyes will be on the beacon in the north this week.
The prolonged industrial action at The Alexandra School must have an effect on the school as a choice, particularly in Zone 1. Granted that the major breakdown occurred after the forms had been returned to the Ministry of Education, the simmering situation must have been on the minds of most parents at the point of decision.
These unresolved issues have a way of coming back to haunt those involved when not dealt with promptly and in a decisive manner. Attempts to take the ugly spectacle between the teachers and principal out of the public domain with inquiries did little to quell the uneasiness felt by potential students, their parents, students, teachers and principal.
Tension
Any hearing is bound to resurrect old wounds and cause fresh tension.
The action of temporarily removing the Alexandra issue from the public eye can only serve to create a bigger internal problem later. The problem is certain to resurface even if it is introduced by parents of possible students.
Authorities should now be brave enough to state if there were any challenges and how they would be dealt with.
The Alexandra issues and all the ensuing problems should be a lesson for all involved: it is better to deal with the problem once and for all rather than allowing it to drag on.
• Antoinette Connell
is Daily Nation Editor. Email antoinetteconnell
@nationnews.com
