Dominica awards 124 scholarships and 122 bursaries to Grade 6 students

Dominica: 124 scholarships and 122 bursaries were awarded by the Government of Dominica to students who performed in the Grade 6 National Assessment, following the release of results on Friday, June 19.

Out of the 124 scholarship holders, 67 are girls and 57 are boys. While in case of bursaries, there are 71 girls and 51 boys.

The announcement, which took place at the Goodwill Parish Hall, stated that this year students scoring 18,19 and 20 points were granted scholarships while those who obtained 16 to 17 points received bursaries as was done in previous years. Under the scholarship, students receive textbook and stationery grant, plus government coverage of CXC examination fees while in award of bursary, students are benefited with textbook and stationery grant at a lower amount.

The Education Minister of Dominica, Octavia Alfred, congratulated all who played a part in the success of the students. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education extends ”warmest congratulations to all students who wrote the Grade 6 National Assessment, and highly commend all our schools for the effort.” 

This year a criteria reference approach for grading the examination papers was utilized, where students were evaluated against clearly established standards. This new approach for assessment was taken into consideration aimed at giving students a fair chance at succeeding and so it was difficult to identify top students or top schools.

According to the Ministry, “This is a renewed approach as opposed to the norm reference format traditionally used, where students were compared to their peers. This approach places greater emphasis on mastery of knowledge and skills and promotes a more inclusive and equitable education system.”

The test was held on May 28 and 29 of this year and covered four domains: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science (or Science & Technology), Social Studies. The examination is considered “high-stakes” by the government as it serves two main purposes: placement of students into secondary schools and selection of scholarship and bursary recipients which further decide the future of the island.