The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has bowed to pressure from education stakeholders in Barbados and elsewhere in the region to delay the start of this year’s exams, agreeing on Wednesday to push it back three weeks.
And while some of the most strident lobbyists for the postponement have welcomed the announcement that the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams originally scheduled to start on May 2 will now begin on May 23, they have concerns about one of CXC’s concessions.
After previously blanking persistent calls for the delay given the last two years of teaching challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the regional exams body said it had accepted feedback from regional Ministries of Education on the timing of the 2022 exams.
“Members of Council reviewed and reached a consensus on recommendations from CXC’s School Examinations Committee on the strategy for 2022 regional examinations,” CXC Registrar and Chief Executive Officer Dr Wayne Wesley told a virtual press conference.
“After careful deliberation and consideration of all the pertinent issues, Council agreed that the revised strategy for the 2022 regional examination shall be as follows: a delay in the sitting of the regional examinations by three weeks. This would provide candidates with additional time to prepare for the examinations,” he continued, adding that results were expected to be released either in late August or early September.
The due date for School-Based Assessments (SBAs) has also been extended a further two weeks from June 30, following a previous six-week extension.
Declaring that CXC recognises the impact of the pandemic on the educational system in general and, more specifically, the scheduling of the exams, Dr Wesley said broad topics to be covered in the exams will be revealed within the next two weeks.
“CXC will share with the Ministries of Education, for communication to the candidates, the broad topics to be assessed on Paper 2,” he said.
Asked if a three-week delay in the start of exams would be enough given the timeline for the release of the topics, the CEO of the Barbados-based regional body said it was the responsibility of students to prepare.
“As we have indicated, it is just broad topics, it’s not necessarily specific…. It’s just really to give an indication as to where and what students should cover. At this time, the broad topics should really be used as a revision tool rather than a preparation tool in terms of how you are going to guide your study at this time. So it depends on the readiness of that student that would determine whether three weeks’ delay and having the broad topics would assist them,” he said.
However, it is that issue that prompted the concern of spokesperson/coordinator for the Group of Concerned Parents in Barbados and the Caribbean Coalition for Exam Redress Paula-Anne Moore, and student liaison Khaleel Kothdiwala, although they both welcomed the extra time students would get to prepare.
Kothdiwala, who said CXC was “made to listen” and “adapt and adjust to not disadvantage the students who were woefully unprepared through no fault of their own”, was not pleased the topics would be released so close to the start of the exams.
“At one level we are very, very pleased to see that finally we have broken some ground. At the same time, of course, there are outstanding concerns…. I note specifically the issue of the broad topics. The indication that it will not be available for at least two to three weeks is concerning,” the student advocate told Barbados TODAY.
He said this was particularly worrying because the exams have only been delayed by three weeks.
“We need to make full use of these topics, and in order for them to be effective [students] have to be able to use them to focus their preparation, and it is much more desirable if CXC was able to do that within a week,” Kothdiwala suggested.
Moore also called for the requisite resources to be provided by CXC so that broad topics can be released within a week rather than two weeks; that the necessary resources be provided so results are not unduly delayed; and that consideration be given to relaxing the grade boundaries so that students are more competitive internationally.
She said her movement would continue to hold the CXC Secretariat, its council and Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments’ feet to the fire to ensure students’ needs are met.
Against this background, she said, long-term solutions were needed “so this embarrassing situation doesn’t happen again”.
Meanwhile, Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) president Mary Redman, who was at the CXC special meeting where the rescheduling of the exams was agreed to by the majority of attendees, attributed the breakthrough to the assertiveness of Barbados’ Minister of Education Senator Kay McConney and her Jamaican counterpart Fayval Williams.
“During the meeting, moral mandate, fairness, reasonableness have been the buzz words from chairman Professor Sir Hilary Beckles. They underscored his impassioned submission which truly properly persuaded the majority at the meeting to vote in favour of a three-week postponement of exams, the release of broad topics and a further rescheduling of the submission dates for the SBAs,” Redman revealed.
She said excellent contributions also came from Ministers McConney and Williams.
“The positions that both of these ministers espoused prior to this meeting this morning and that they steadfastly held during the meeting have contributed greatly to ensuring that the region’s children have not been disadvantaged,” the union leader declared.
Last Thursday when it insisted there would be no delay, CXC said any rescheduling would negatively impact students who needed exam results in time to get into universities and apply for scholarships.
In response to a question from Barbados TODAY on Wednesday, Dr Wesley said while there would still be some “displacement”, the exam body would do everything possible to cushion any fallout.
“Whatever decision we arrive at, there will always be some amount of displacement. We will work assiduously to minimise that as much as possible, because with a delay, it means that there is some adjustment with receiving the papers even for grading,” the CXC registrar said.
He also announced that CXC’s hardship policy would continue to be implemented when marking examination papers, in light of the setbacks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The adjustments announced on Wednesday were in addition to concessions CXC had already made, including a reduction in the SBA requirements by as much as 50 per cent in some subjects, and allowing candidates the option to defer some or all of their exams to either January or June 2023.
A total of 25 429 students are registered for CAPE exams, while 105 078 are registered to sit CSEC exams regionally.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
