The Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination, commonly known as the 11+Examination, has been postponed until June 2.
Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw made the announcement on Wednesday on Starcom Network’s Down to Brass Tacks.
The exam was scheduled to be held on May 5, but the threat of COVID-19 has officials putting other plans in place for both the Common Entrance and Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Exams.
Bradshaw said the 11+ date was also contingent on the Trinity term, starting on April 14. 
“Within the past two weeks, we have been working with our IT (Information Technology) coordinators and also our teachers to ensure that everyone is trained in the full use of a suite of apps known as G Suite for Education. This is going to allow us to have our teachers remain in contact with both students as well as parents via the online mediums,” Bradshaw said.
“So for those who care concerned the disruption being caused by COVID with students not attending school is going to any way disrupt their ability to have formal instruction, we are doing all that we can to ensure that we can have students learn in a virtual environment until the situation changes.”
On-site and centre moderation has been suspended for several CXC subjects which were scheduled to take place in May and June, while Schools Based Assessments (SBAs) and practicals have also been suspended and will be rescheduled “in due course”.
“In cases where schools have outstanding labs to be completed by students, we have recommended that these labs be rescheduled when the Trinity Term commences,” Bradshaw said.
The Minister said CXC had not announced changes to submission deadlines for SBAs. However, where student have been unable to submit completed SBAs because of the disruption caused by COVID-19, schools are asked to “submit a justification and the appropriate representation would be made to CXC for consideration”. (SAT)
Download the Telegram app and sign up for new alerts at this link.
