The Ministry of Education says 3,300 students will take the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination (BSSEE) next Tuesday and COVID-19 protocols will be in full effect for both students and their parents.The 1,545 males and 1,755 females who will sit the exam at the island’s 21 public schools will be required to wear masks, sanitise, and be seated three feet apart, while parents and guardians will not be allowed to remain on the compounds.Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, noting the importance of protecting students in the COVID-19 environment, said the protocols governing the exams, as well as those pertaining to how parents/guardians conduct themselves in the vicinity of the centres would be enforced.“There will be sanitising stations in the classroom and/or bottles of alcohol for students to cleanse their hands on entering the compound. But I want to make it clear that all COVID-19 protocols will be followed. We will also have [school] monitors from the public primary schools at the examination centres,” she said.Archer-Bradshaw added that children should bring along more than one mask.
