15 scholarships, 20 Exhibitions amid CXC result delays

Minister of Education Kay McConney has announced that 15 Barbados Scholarships and 20 exhibitions will be awarded this year, with the possibility of more awards depending on the outcomes of reviews requested by students regarding their Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) results.

During a press briefing on Wednesday, McConney also addressed the significant challenge posed by ungraded CXC papers, which has delayed the release of national exam results. 

“This year we had 15 scholarships and 20 exhibitions, and it is possible that that number may increase because there are some students who – as is their right and as they’re entitled to do – have asked CXC for a review of their results,” she explained. 

The minister reassured that such reviews are a normal part of the process and should not raise concerns.

The delay in providing a comprehensive national report on CXC results was attributed to a substantial number of ungraded papers. 

“We had a situation here in Barbados where we had over 190 or thereabouts students who had ungraded papers,” McConney stated, clarifying that this issue was the primary reason for the initial withholding of national results. 

She emphasised the ministry’s desire to avoid releasing incomplete information: “What we did not want to do was to come to you with one national result and then have to come back to you a second time and say, ‘Oops, sorry, we need to change it’.”

McConney confirmed that the issue with the ungraded papers has now been resolved, thanks to the prompt actions of the local registrar and the CXC team. 

The ungraded papers were a consequence of an error in the registration process, which McConney clarified was not the fault of the ministry or CXC. “There was an error with regards to how the registration was done for certain students, and there was a coded difference that then caused a bit of a challenge,” she noted. The minister stressed the importance of ongoing collaboration to prevent similar issues in the future, stating, “What we will continue to do is have conversations with our partners, both in the schools as well as CXC, to see how we can mitigate that occurrence again.”

Despite these challenges, McConney expressed confidence in the stability of Barbados’ exam results, reporting only minimal changes in pass rates. “Both at the CSEC [Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate] level as well as at the CAPE [Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination] level, we have seen some improvements, and where there have been decreases in the pass rate, it has been in the vicinity of about one per cent or zero point something per cent,” she said. “We are pretty much seeing our results hold their own in certain specific subjects.”

The minister concluded by affirming that all minor challenges have been resolved and that the ministry is preparing to present a more comprehensive analysis of the CXC results. (RG)