Scholarships and Exhibitions will still be awarded

Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson has given the assurance that all students who meet the criteria for Barbados Scholarships and Exhibitions will receive them, despite an ongoing dispute over the results of this year’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE).

The Ministry of Education is also committed to amending its list of national awards to include students whose grades are deemed to have met the criteria after review of this year’s Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams.

In the meantime, another group of concerned parents, particularly at Harrison College, are reportedly up in arms over the Government’s delay in releasing the names of this year’s scholarship winners.

A spokesperson for the group told Barbados TODAY that more than ten upper sixth form students received grades that would qualify them for national awards. Principal Juanita Wade also confirmed that the number of students qualifying for the awards is consistent with the institution’s average, but added that this year’s grades were projected to be above the average.

When asked to give a timeline for the national scholars to be announced, Adamson disclosed that a directive from Cabinet was required and that “everyone would be notified as usual” when the process is finished. She denied that CXC-related issues were slowing down the process and noted that the timelines for the release of names vary from year to year.

Ever since this year’s scores were released two weeks ago, students and parents region-wide have been protesting what they insist are “erroneous” results that in many cases are extremely inconsistent with students’ projected grades.

As a result, CXC Chairman Sir Hilary Beckles announced that an independent review would be conducted and the first findings would be presented on October 16.

According to the Chief Education Officer, the Ministry will be willing to revise the number of national awardees if most students meet the criteria when the review is concluded.

“If, after a review, there is a change in the grades, we will go back to the Cabinet and we will add persons if they warrant the award and that is done every year. Amendments are made every year. There is a standard that you have to meet and once you meet those standards, we will honour that,” she promised.

When contacted, Wade admitted that while some students at Harrison College shared the concerns about this year’s results, there were others whose grades are consistent with those worthy of national recognition.

“We have an idea because we know what the students’ marks are, but we are waiting on official announcements because we don’t want to presume anything,” the principal told Barbados TODAY.

“We think [the number of scholarship winners] should be in keeping with the average number, but we were expecting more this year based on how students were performing in lower sixth and how they were performing over the year, and we definitely know that some students would have fallen away from the scholarship and from the exhibition [as a result of this year’s issues],” she added.

“If they have already satisfied the criteria [for national scholarships], it would be really, really unfortunate if something were to happen where that is concerned, but for those who have already satisfied the criteria, I don’t expect that there will be any change with that. Certainly, those students will not be requesting individual reviews.”

According to Wade, the most unusual grades were recorded among fifth form students sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams and lower sixth form students sitting CAPE level one examinations.

Amid the confusion, some prospective Barbados Scholarship and Exhibition winners are reportedly unable to celebrate and are said to be feeling guilty for recording outstanding scores amid the unfortunate plight of their colleagues.

“Why hasn’t the Ministry recognised the students and said to the public that some students met the criteria,” one parent asked.

“It seems that nobody knows that students have met the criteria and we are not trying to ease CXC but it might bring some balance to the situation.”

Nevertheless, Wade, who is also president of the Barbados Association for Principals of Public Secondary Schools (BAPPSS), expressed support for students and parents who continue to agitate in the interest of their present and future education.
(KS)