Union seeking to give students second chance

A proposal is being put forward to the Ministry of Education to have a lower fifth introduced at those schools which currently do not have.

The suggestion has come from the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU), and would allow to give students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic a second chance at completing their CXCs next year.

President of the union, Mary Redman said the idea was put forward by members of the BSTU, who believed a buffer needed to be put in place for disadvantaged students.

“What we discussed was the possibility of the introduction in schools that do not presently have them, a lower fifth so that this fifth form, if CXC is not willing to amend exams structure and content of the syllabi, that this present fifth form be seen as a lower fifth in schools that don’t have a lower fifth and they will sit their CXCs next year in upper fifth and that the present fourth form would go into a lower fifth next year,” Redman said.

“So we would have this arrangement for this school year  and the next academic year. Those were matters discussed in relation to attempting to allow children to properly have the best possible chances at success given the restrictions imposed by COVID-19.”

She said it had also been suggested that the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level

Competence (CCSLC) be abandoned for the time being.

The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) first offered the CCSLC in 2007.

It comprises a common core of subjects being English, Integrated Science, Mathematics, Modern Languages and Social Studies and was developed to provide students with the competencies that will serve as a foundation for more advanced studies, the world of work and life as a citizen of the region.

However, Redman called for the exam to be abandoned.

“In relation to CXC which I think is important, other recommendations were that the present CCSLC programme be abandoned so that they can be the emphasis on an earlier start to the CXC syllabus, especially in schools where CXC exams are the exit exams that the majority of students will be doing,” she explained.