Sir Hilary says 2020 CXC results will be rechecked

by Marlon Madden and Randy Bennett

Following mounting pressure from students and parents, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has announced a team will be employed to review its 2020 results.

CXC chairman Professor Sir Hilary Beckles made the announcement today, admitting that the move was necessary considering the numerous concerns raised regarding the results in this year’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).

In a statement, Sir Hilary said an Independent Review Team would be installed in short order.

He said even though he was satisfied with the manner in which CXC had conducted the 2020 exams in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the issues highlighted could not be ignored.

The news has come following two days of protest by students outside of CXC’s Wildey, St Michael headquarters.

“Management at CXC has been impressive in the delivery of the July 2020 regional examinations within the context of the COVID-19 logistics nightmare, and crippling global doubt about revised examinations systems and procedures. I commend the team at CXC for their effort to serve the best they can –
the people of our region.

“Nonetheless, it was anticipated that given these specific challenges a period of review and possible revisions would follow, consistent with the regulations of the Council. It has been agreed, therefore, that an Independent Review Team will shortly begin this work and present a report for discussion with relevant stakeholders,” Sir Hilary said.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies admitted that CXC could not turn a blind eye to the disquiet of students.

“Concerns raised in the public domain with respect to the efficacy of procedures and systems used by the CXC in its computation and declaration of student performance data are of great importance to the organization,” he noted.

“The Registrar, Dr Wayne Wesley, and his team have met with distinguished regional Ministers of Education in order to discuss these concerns and identify the underlying causes with a view to moving forward and providing clarity to our stakeholders and enhanced support.

“CXC is satisfied that Ministers have received explanations for its positions in light of the public discourse. It is understood that while there might be policy and technical issues to be addressed immediately, the maintenance of public trust going forward is paramount,” Sir Hilary maintained.

Today, action against CXC was ramped up, as angry students and parents again took to the streets in protest.

The group of parents and students engaged in a second round of protests outside the Pine Plantation Road, St Michael institution.

With placards in hand, the crowd marched from the junction at the Pine Plantation Road to the junction at Collymore Rock
as they shouted various slogans.

Paula-Anne Moore, spokeswoman for the concerned group of parents, told Barbados TODAY some of the students had until October 15 to submit their results to their universities and colleges of their choice.

She said the unofficial group would therefore put increasing pressure on the governing examination body to give them an apology and do the review as they were demanding.

“We are not going to stop we are going to pursue all various opportunities before us, this is but one. We are going to bring pressure on our perspective governments regionally so that they in turn bring CXC to yield. They are accountable to us and it seems as though the registrar has forgotten,” said Moore.

She opted not to say what exactly the next step would be should protest action not work, but Moore made it clear that “if we need to get further permit to march everyday . . . We will”.

Stating that the protest was not meant to cast aspersions on the entire staff of CXC, she said the regional examination body “needs help”.

“We are also calling for an external audit because clearly CXC needs help and it will also bring credibility to any solution that comes forth from this. So they need to regrade, they need to explain their methodology, they need to be transparent about that methodology, and they need to demonstrate that they have investigated using external forensic auditors. They need to apologise,” she insisted.

“If needs be, there are other avenues and routes we can go but we just need this to be resolved expeditiously,” she added.

Last Friday, it was the students who led a peaceful protest outside the CXC office, with organizers of that protest describing the response from CXC for a review as nothing short of “nonchalant”.

Moore insisted that it was “a travesty and injustice” that was meted out to the children.

She said while she was expecting more parents and students at today’s protest, she was “quite happy with the turn out.

Sir Hilary assured today that there would be ongoing dialogue with regional Ministries of Education based upon the official gathering of data relevant to all ventilated concerns. He promised that each and every formally reported case “will be reviewed and where remedies are required, they will be applied.”

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
randybennett@barbadotoday.bb