Edexcel GCE & CAPE Examinations

Sep 13, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I wish to congratulate all those students who were awarded excellent and very satisfactory grades at the Edexcel GCE Advanced Level and CAPE Examinations held in May/June 2010.
This is not to say that those students who did not perform to the expected satisfactory grades are less honoured in any way.
All had given the examinations their best efforts and deserve to be congratulated. In your issue of 12th September, 2010 I find that the article written by Dale Andrews to be inaccurate in parts.
Firstly, the names “Dinesh Sukhu” and “Sachin Ramsurran” appended to the photographs in his article should in fact read Sachin Ramsurran and Aaron Haralsingh respectively.
An opinion expressed, by students or otherwise, is the non-analytical nature of the topics and examination questions of the CAPE syllabuses. This is far from the truth. It is no secret that many students, past and present, along with parents and other stakeholders, have the notion that CAPE, being a “recent” and “local” examination is second best to Edexcel GCE and Cambridge GCE examinations. Much of this misconception may be attributed to an unfounded bias in favour of “overseas” examinations.
The Edexcel GCE and Cambridge Examinations have their own levels of credibility and acceptance by persons who take those examinations for matriculation.
I am integrally involved with the Caribbean Examinations Council and am part of the Syllabus and Examinations Panels for CAPE. The syllabuses developed for all the CAPE subjects have as their Aims and Objectives, in part, “…… to show that learning a multiplicity of seemingly unconnected facts, procedures and formulae, lend themselves to generalizations, and provide enormous scope for applications to solving real world problems”.
To posit that “CAPE is just like you read something, recall and write”, is not the intention of the Caribbean Examinations Council. I attach herewith a release dated August 16, 1999, by CXC on the acceptance of CAPE qualifications for higher learning institutions in the United Kingdom.
Note particularly the endorsements, “NARIC said it was impressed by the structure and content of CAPE and in particular the flexibility to offer various combinations of breadth and depth. CAPE’s mix of two-units and one-unit courses provide depth and breadth of study.”
I invite Mr. Andrews to talk with CAPE subjects’ teachers to get more detailed information on the structure and format of the CAPE syllabuses and examinations. This can be the subject of a more informative article on CAPE, which is the examination the Caribbean region is offering to its students. It would be apposite to note that Guyana is the last territory among the Caribbean countries, who offer CXC examinations, to take the decision not to support the Edexcel GCE and Cambridge examinations with effect from the academic year 2010 – 2011.
Yours truly will not be any part of mediocrity, as we seek to develop a national and regional ethos.
Rudolph D. Mahadeo

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Edexcel GCE & CAPE Examinations

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