The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has declared that it has no intention of putting back its exams scheduled to begin next month, despite strident calls from local and regional teachers’ unions and a parent activist for it to do so.
CXC’s Public Relations and Marketing Officer Folayan Taitt said Thursday that any delay in the exams would not only affect the regional consensus reached several months ago by representatives of participating governments, but negatively impact students who need test results to get into universities and apply for scholarships.
As a result, she said, the tests will go ahead as previously indicated in CXC’s timetables.
“The timing of the examinations schedules was determined following agreement at our council meeting in December 2021 by representatives from participating governments. There are multiple stakeholders with whom the council has to consult and the published schedule for examinations reflects the best consensus attainable. An adjustment to the schedule would destabilise the regional consensus,” the CXC spokesperson stated.
“Further, a delayed start to the examinations would negatively impact the date for the release of results, affecting candidates’ ability to meet the matriculation period for pursuing higher education at universities as well as scholarship application opportunities. In addition, it will compromise the commencement of the next academic year and thus perpetuate the disruptive impact on the education system,” she added.
Starting with the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) scheduled for May 2 to 10 June, the exams will proceed.
Taitt said students will sit the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) from May 2 to June 3; the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) from June 6 to 9; and the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA), May 12 and 13.
The Council also revealed that the Vocational Qualification (CVQ) assessments will be conducted between May and July and that the specific dates will be determined by individual participating territories.
One of the strongest advocates urging CXC to delay the exams because the challenges of COVID-19 had rendered students unprepared to sit the tests at this time, was the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU).
Last month, its president Mary Redman called for the postponement of this year’s sitting to allow students to adequately prepare themselves after nearly an entire year of online instructions due to COVID.
“The BSTU is concerned about the timing of the exam, the structure of the exams, the fact that there appear to be few accommodations, if any, from CXC in relation to both of those things, given the experience of the region since the beginning of the school year and the fact that across the region and more so in Barbados, children have been educated largely through an online modality,” Redman had told Barbados TODAY.
And only this week, the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) asked the regional exam body to delay the timetable by three weeks to allow sufficient time for teachers and students to complete the syllabi and satisfy the school-based-assessment (SBA) component; reduce SBA requirements, especially for subjects with a practical component; and advise of the topics to be covered in the examination.
But the Barbados-based examinations body has rejected those requests.
“It is CXC’s policy that students may request consideration for cases of hardship, within guidelines set out by the organisation,” Taitt told Barbados TODAY.
The exam body also addressed whether there would be any adjustments made to the process or structure.
Taitt said the reduction in SBA requirements in 2021 was maintained this year. This year, candidates were also given an extension of about six weeks for the submission of the SBAs.
“In addition to the reduction in the SBA requirements and deadline extension, the deferral strategy has been extended for use any time prior to the administration of the subject. Candidates will be able to defer to January or June 2023, whenever the subject is administered,” she said.
Supporting the need for urgent attention to exam structure, the parent-student advocate Paula Anne Moore late last month pointed out that examination bodies around the world, except in the Caribbean, have modified their exam processes to facilitate the disruption to educational instruction and learning caused by the pandemic.
“This is the third academic year that the pandemic has [disrupted] education and learning. I am deeply disappointed, very, very disappointed…from CARICOM, 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,” Moore declared.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
