Preparing Our Children for a Digital CXC, Readiness, Access, and Responsibility

Dec 28, 2025 News

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By Karen Abrams, MBA, AA, Doctoral Candidate – Education Technology

(Kaieteur News) – For many parents, the announcement that the Caribbean Examinations Council plans to move examinations fully online may feel sudden. It is not. As far back as 2017, CXC began e-testing with CSEC multiple choice exams across several Caribbean countries, reporting smooth administration and positive feedback from students, invigilators, and education officials. At the time, the Council made a simple but important point. If students are learning in one environment and tested in another, we are setting them up to struggle for reasons that have nothing to do with subject knowledge.

That reality matters even more today. Digital examinations change the experience of test-taking itself. Students who are comfortable navigating screens, scrolling, clicking, flagging questions, managing on-screen timers, and typing responses are able to focus their mental energy on the questions being asked. Those who are not must divide attention between content and mechanics. That cognitive load matters. Practising on digital platforms builds familiarity and fluency. It reduces anxiety. It helps students trust the process so they can demonstrate what they actually know.

This is where parents can act now. I would strongly encourage parents of 10th and 11th grade students to ensure their children are registered on the government’s digital learning platform which is a relevant library of resources. This platform should not be considered an optional add-on. They are part of how students are increasingly expected to learn, revise, and interact with content. Regular use helps students become comfortable navigating lessons, assessments, and digital tools long before exam day.

Parents should also look beyond revision alone and think about digital fluency as a skill in its own right. Platforms like Pathway Online Academy allow students from Grades 1 to 10 to reinforce the Ministry of Education curriculum in Math, English, Science, and Social Studies while working entirely online. Students are not only strengthening subject knowledge. They are learning how to read instructions on screen, complete online quizzes, develop subject mastery, manage digital tasks, submit work online, and move confidently through structured digital environments. That fluency gives them a significant advantage when assessments move online.

But any discussion of digital exams in Guyana must confront access honestly. Not all students have reliable devices, stable internet, or consistent electricity. Indigenous communities, rural villages, and under resourced coastal areas face challenges that go far beyond motivation or effort. In some communities, power outages are routine. In others, bandwidth fluctuates or drops altogether. A move to digital exams that does not account for these realities, risks widening existing inequities rather than modernising assessment.

This is where government responsibility becomes unavoidable. On test day, the burden cannot be placed on families to solve systemic problems. Are there enough examination centres equipped with functioning computers that meet technical requirements? Is there sufficient bandwidth to support hundreds of students testing simultaneously without lag or disconnections? Is there onsite technical support that can respond immediately if systems fail? What contingency plans exist for electricity interruptions or network outages, especially outside Georgetown? These are operational questions that determine whether a digital exam system is fair or flawed.

CXC’s early e-testing framework made clear that secure browsers, proper system setup, trained supervisors, and clear procedures for internet interruptions are essential to maintaining exam integrity and protecting student work. Those safeguards only function if infrastructure and staffing are in place. The promise of digital testing depends not just on software, but on preparation, coordination, and investment at the national level.

The shift to fully digital examinations is not inherently a problem. In many ways, it is overdue. Technology is already how students learn, research, communicate, and increasingly how they will work. Aligning assessment with that reality makes sense. But progress must be deliberate. Parents must prepare children early and consistently. Schools must integrate digital practice into everyday learning. And government must ensure that no child’s results are compromised by circumstances beyond their control.

Digital exams should measure knowledge and skill, not access to electricity or familiarity with a mouse. If we get this right, the transition can strengthen learning and fairness. If we do not, we risk leaving too many capable students behind.

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• CSEC, Digital CXC, echnology, Karen Abrams

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