Myron V. Walwyn’s imposed Exit Exam was a ‘fraud’- Fmr Educator Elroy Turnbull
Former CEO Mr Elroy Turnbull was a guest on the July 2, 2019 edition of ‘Honestly Speaking with Claude O. Skelton-Cline’ on ZBVI 780 AM” where he noted that education in its present form in the territory has been compromised and in need of a review.
“I need to talk about the need for an education review, that would look at where we were, were we are and where we need to be,” said Mr Turnbull.
Lowering of EPE pass mark not the best idea- Elroy Turnbull
The former educator also shared that the recent lowering of the EPE pass mark by Education Minister Dr The Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R5) to allow more persons to graduate this year was not the best decision.
“First of all, the Honourable Minister, I think he is a good guy and I like him,” he stated, but noted, “The Education Minister made a mistake by lowering the pass mark.”
Hon Wheatley had given several reasons for lowering the Exit Proficiency Examination by 10% following his review of the system upon taking office following the February 25, 2019 general election that saw the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) sweeping to power.
According to Mr Turnbull, Dr Wheatley’s investigations found that prior to taking office the examination given was not based on what was taught in schools and it had a different grading system from what was practiced in schools.
“Additionally he (Hon Wheatley) said the teachers have never seen the examination, they never got any feedbacks so they can use that to guide their students, which I thought was horrible.”
“If the Minister has done his research and this is what he says, I believe him and I don’t think the Hon Minister would come and mislead people like that, he is a nice guy, I can’t see him doing that, but that’s what he said and that’s what I am based on.”
EPE was a ‘fraud’
Mr Turnbull opined, “Having said those things, I think the general exam in terms of the general principles, the scientific principles at which exams are set and assessed, I think the examination was null and void, it was not reliable, it was not valid, it bordered on dishonesty and in my opinion it was a fraud.”
Qualifying the “fraud” allegation, Mr Turnbull said, “You cannot mislead people and have them to believe you doing this and you do something else. That’s my judgement. You cannot have these kids believe that the exam is going to test what they did, as well as the teachers, and you come with something that has no relevance to what was taught.”
Moderator of the show, Mr Skelton-Cline expressed that the allegations were very serious and warranted the presence of the sitting Minister on the show; however, Mr Turnbull held his ground, stating his assessment was based on experience. “I have been involved in exams for years.”
He further said the Exit Proficiency Examination has been in existence from 2016 and several teachers vaguely knew what it was and has never seen the marked papers.
Get rid of EPE
Meanwhile, on the direct point of lowering the EPE pass mark, Mr Turnbull suggested that the new Education Minister should have just “cancelled” the Exit Proficiency Examination and “make it null and void”.
“Leave the grade system that the schools have…. So you didn’t have to go and lower anything. The school pass mark was 50 [%], this examination was 60 and he lowered it from 60 to 50 [%].
“15% of the school leaving process … could be substituted with something that could give you 15%. Then again what disturbs me, why are you having this thing as a compulsory examination? Traditionally, compulsory exams are Mathematics and Language Arts,” Mr Turnbull said.
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12 Responses to “Myron V. Walwyn’s imposed Exit Exam was a ‘fraud’- Fmr Educator Elroy Turnbull”
The bar should be set so that it takes hard work and perspiration to scale/surmount it; it should not have been lowered so that students can just walk over it. This may be to just puff up the numbers to make the ministry/school look good. It should be about the students proficiency. Too many students graduating and about the place as functionally illiterates, the education system having failed them. A worthless piece of paper isn’t useless to them.
Why it seems the VIP is moving at the speed of lighting to change everything? Though it was elected as a change agent, it must effect sensible, timely, strategic and value adding changes. The hare and tortoise fable says slow and steady wins the race. It will serve the government well to slow down, dot the I’s and cross the T’s.