Massive region-wide opposition to CXC results

Sep 26, 2020 News

Since the release of the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) results on September 22, there has been mass regional condemnation of these results produced by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC). Several Ministries of Education from across the region, Guyana’s included have since demanded answers from the council in regards to the highlighted discrepancies in their allocation of marks to students. Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua, and Barbuda, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat are just a few of the countries calling for answers and a review of the grades.
On Thursday, Guyana’s Ministry of Education contacted the Registrar of CXC, raising concerns over their poor grading system and discrepancies that were highlighted by students, teachers, and parents countrywide. Among the discrepancies was the issue of students receiving ungraded marks despite sitting their exams and submitting their School-Based Assessments (SBAs) in a timely fashion. Another issue highlighted was that students who would have excelled in their year one CAPE scored low grades in year two. The Ministry has since pledged to aggressively pursue the matter and ensure that there is an acceptable resolution.
The Minister of Education of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Nyan Gadsby Dolly issued a statement on Thursday, noting that she would have personally spoken to CXC about the discrepancies. The Minister said, “It is causing distress, which is regrettable, especially for the students involved who are already stressed in this year of the pandemic.”
Barbados’ Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Sanita Bradshaw too called on CXC to bring clarity to their discrepancies. “The disquiet among students who recently received the Caribbean Examinations Council’s CAPE and CSEC examinations is definitely cause for concern. I am of the view that an urgent investigation must be carried out by CXC into this matter to preserve the integrity of the examinations,” Bradshaw expressed.
Countries like Monsterrat and St. Vincent have also called for answers after they both had to delay their announcements of the overall pass rates and they also could not provide detailed reports on the student’s performance in the CSEC and CAPE assessments. In St Vincent, 2,425 candidates were registered to sit the CSEC examinations, 856 of which were private candidates and 1,569 were public school candidates. A total of 572 students registered to sit the CAPE exams, 37 of which were private candidates and 535 were candidates of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College. It is unclear how many students were registered in Monsterrat, nevertheless, both countries have signaled that they are committed to resolving the matter in the best interest of their students.
A regional petition demanding a review of the 2020 CXC results has been launched via Change.org. The petition was directed to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat and has already gathered over 17,000 signatures to date. The petition was started by an 18-year-old former Queens College student, Kimesha Harper in Barbados. Some students even commented on the petition sharing their stories. One student said, “I got full marks in all my SBAs and I did past papers the day before the environmental science exam. Many of the questions came back so I know they were correct, however, I got a grade six.”
Another student said, “As a huge regional educational institution I find it very irresponsible that you have caused this upon all of these students who have worked hard countless hours studying and doing many past papers over and over again. Please fix this immediately and we will be willing to work with you.”
In response to the upsurge all across the region, the council conducted a press conference yesterday to address concerns and to answer to the region.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News