May 11 to remain Election Date – President confirms
President Donald Ramotar.
[www.inewsguyana.com] – President Donald Ramotar has confirmed that May 11, 2015 will remain the Election Date, putting to rest concerns that it will clash with CXC and CAPE exams, which is scheduled for the same day.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, January 21, the President said that the Ministry of Education will put adequate systems in place to ensure that students are able to sit their exams without disruption of the day’s election activities.
However, up to the time this story was published, the Education Ministry, headed by Minister Priya Manickchand was yet to announce what those “adequate systems” are.
When contacted by iNews on Wednesday about what impact the elections will have on the exams, Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam referred all questions to the Education Minister.
Education Minister, Priya Manickchand.
Contact was then made with Public Relations Officer of the Ministry, Suelle Findlay-Williams, who asked for a “few hours” to get the Minister’s response. However, repeated calls to the PRO’s cell phone between Wednesday and today went unanswered.
As a result of the many concerns raised about the clash of the exams and the election date, Opposition Leader David Granger has since suggested that President Ramotar change the election date from May 11.
APNU Leader, David Granger
“It is obviously an error or I would say a blunder because now that it has happened, the PPP is trying to correct that mistake and they probably didn’t put enough thought into it,” Granger told Reporters on Wednesday, January 21 at his Hadfield Street, Georgetown Office.
The Opposition Leader does not believe that the date for the examinations should be changed, since it is traditionally written around May of each year throughout the Caribbean.
