BUT urges CXC to push back exams

The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) has added its voice to calls for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to reschedule its May/June exams.

The educators are appealing for a postponement, arguing that the limited face-to-face classes do not allow for adequate preparation time.

“Some teachers see students once every two weeks. This limited time for face-to-face instruction is augmented with online work and additional lessons, but all children cannot access these mediums due to personal challenges,” the BUT said in a statement.

“Given these challenges, having broad topics [for students to study] would be helpful as some subjects have many modules and sub-modules to be taught.”

BUT President Rudy Lovell added that many students have struggled to finish their SBAs due to their inability to complete aspects of those subjects online.

“Furthermore, although SBAs were intended to remove the one-shot opportunity and provide research opportunities for students, there is a school of thought that students do not get the experience they are supposed to get from the completion of the SBA component.”

Lovell noted that continual challenges have seen some schools returning to British examination bodies such as Pitman, and City and Guilds because, among other things, they offer assessments on specific components rather than the complete syllabus as CXC does.

“The BUT is hopeful that repeated issues related to CXC will be addressed to the advantage of all students throughout the region,” the union leader said.

On Monday, President of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) Mary Redman said parents need to act now to address the concerns.

“I am concerned that parents have not taken up the issue of the timing and structure of CXC exams for 2022 with the relevant institution and the Ministry of Education. I am saying this because the students this year were the most disadvantaged…throughout the region, really …in relation to adequate preparation for CXC.

“The present fifth formers would have last been exposed to a full year of face-to-face instruction in second form. They are the ones that, for the last two years, would have been tutored mainly online. And the present lower sixth, many of them only started school after week seven, in some instances, and week eight of last term because, of course, CXC results were late,” she stated.

At the same time, parent advocate and coordinator of the Group of Concerned Parents and the Caribbean Coalition for Exam Redress, Paula-Anne Moore maintained that even as regional students are being disadvantaged, the adults and regional governments have abandoned them.

“This is the third academic year that the pandemic has [disrupted] education and learning. I am deeply disappointed, very, very disappointed….from CARICOM [Caribbean Community], the COHSOD [Council for Human and Social Development] arm of CARICOM, our governments in the region, and, yes, our parent bodies. I think all of us are accountable for the fact that we have not advocated more forcefully to hold CXC accountable and have CXC modify their examination to be more fair,” she declared.

Just over two weeks ago, the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) appealed to CXC to delay the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

CUT President Garth Anderson said: “CXC seems to think that normality has returned to the region and to the lives of our students and other citizens. The reality on the ground is this is not so. Several of our schools are still struggling to reopen, still trying to treat with the learning deficit that would have been created with two years of students on online teaching and education, which we all know has several challenges.” (SD)