Tennyson Joseph, UWI lecturer and political scientist shared a personal experience in his recent weekly column. While it is a personal experience, it scrutinises and exposes decision making at the highest level by education planners in the region. We must do better if we are to compete on the world stage, especially being able to cover-off rudimentary decisions. See article
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Submitted by Paula Sealy TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN What mental health services will be provided after you have allowed Lower 6 (ages 16-17) CAPE 2022 students to be placed under severe anguish, unfathomable physical distress and untold mental strain? In one country, secondary school students have spent approximately seven weeks at school for face-to-face instruction in preparation for their
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At a webinar on Zoom recently, I presented part of a research paper I had originally delivered at a conference at the University the West Indies (UWI) in 2017 entitled “The Marginalisation and Exclusion of Indians by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) in the CSEC and CAPE History and Literature Syllabi”. I was later given an opportunity to do the
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On Sunday, October 18, Sir Hilary Beckles, in his capacity as Chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council, and Dr. Wayne Wesley, Registrar of CXC, held a virtual press conference to release the preliminary findings of the Independent Review Team, empaneled to investigate the examination process, allocated examination results and general performance expectations, inter alia. For the purpose of context, this Review
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The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is a Caribbean institution. As Caribbean nationals, we should insist that the integrity of Caribbean institutions be protected. If our institutions provide a high-quality product, their integrity is automatically protected. CXC has one main product – its examinations. There are three basic components of that product. Namely, a syllabus of information for students to understand,
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The Caribbean Examination Council recently announced that over 11,000 pupils across the region who wrote the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Exam (formerly O’levels) last May/June got no passes. The Caribbean Mentorship Institute has also raised concern on this alarming disclosure. The institute which advocates and conducts research on Caribbean youths has observed an increasing trend of high school dropouts
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The following article is reproduced from the Jamaica Observer newspaper. The article resonates because it dispels the notion that concerns expressed in the Barbados space about CXC are misplaced. Many continue to question the integrity of the grading system and the public remains none the wiser. Discuss for 10 marks. CXC HEADACHE BY JEDIAEL CARTER Staff reporter carterj@jamaicaobserver.com Sunday,
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BU Commenter Ping Pong posted the following two comments to highlight a matter that should be of concern to all Barbadians. Comment 1 On 25th August @ 6:03 David posted in this thread, a report by Cara Foster titled: CXC not in business of failing students. In that report Mr Cleveland Sam of CXC is quoted as saying “There’s a
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Submitted by Anthony Davis In the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the Barbados Today ‘Glitch in CXC Maths Paper’ article it states: “One parent who complained that her son was ‘distraught’ when he came out of the examination room, said he didn’t complete the paper because it was ‘numbered incorrectly…”It was out of order, and when he put up his
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Submitted by Observing The recent SBA saga has taken centre stage in the educational conversation of Barbados. One might have missed the Minister’s pronouncement of a number of new codes including mobile technology, or the launch of the new school for troubled teens or even the good news coming out of BSSAC, NAPSAC and some schools’ Speech Days. We’ve heard
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Submitted by Douglas The recent impasse by the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU) and the regional body of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) has begged the question…In whose interest are these Union bodies acting? How can a union and its members take as prisoners the future leaders of this society by abandoning the process and not marking School Based Assessment
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The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) registers shock and disgust that the Government of Guyana has decided to reschedule CXC examinations, a regional calendar item, to fulfil their need. CXC is a timbale event, not only national in nature but also regional. To shift the CXC speaks to questionable integrity in this whole act. Why change the regional calendar event to meet a desperate need to host elections around Arrival Day and purported visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. This shift in dates add pressure to our children looking to conclude schooling by a particular date, and teachers who will now have an additional timetable to keep students focused on the added month to complete exams.
There is no national disaster to justify shifting a regional exam of such import. One can only suspect that the Ramotar regime places the future of our youth second place to the desperate quest for election victory.
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Barbados Underground 