Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman has postponed the use of continuous assessment for secondary school placement, after parents and other stakeholders raised concerns about the ministry’s planned rollout.

Students entering Class Three this school year will no longer be the first cohort to participate in the two-year pre-secondary course, initially announced earlier this year, as education authorities move to end placement through a high-stakes, one-shot assessment – the Common Entrance Exam.

Instead, the transition to the new placement model has been postponed. While continuous assessment will become part of primary school teaching and learning this academic year, it will not be used for secondary school placement, Blackman said in a ministerial statement on Friday.