BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - FOLLOWING several meetings with regional stakeholders and Ministers of Education, the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) has decided to delay the start of this year’s exams by two weeks.
Confirmation of the delay was made yesterday (May 26) by the regional exam body at a media conference in Barbados.
The body has made a determination, among other things, to return to its original format of the examinations; that being the administration of all paper in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination, Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence Examinations - the administration of Papers One, Two and Three.
Commenting on the two-week delay, the CXC said that it was done to provide candidates with extra time to prepare for the examinations.
Currently, all territories from across the region are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and students were forced to either be schooled online or operate on a hybrid system.
In the case of St. Kitts and Nevis, all schools were closed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on the islands, and education officials were expected to engage with the CXC on the possibility of rescheduling the exams for local students.
When asked by SKNVibes about the meeting, CXC Registrar Dr. Wayne Wesley informed that after consultations with all the territories, it was determined that the best solution would be to delay the start.
The exams will now commence on June 28 and conclude on July 3021, with the release of grades expected during the last week in September to the first week in October, as previously communicated.
Additionally, there will be an extension of the submission of School-Based Assessment (SBA), with the deadline now being June 30 for all CSEC and CAPE examinations.
The body was heavily criticised for its approach to this year’s exams and was asked whether it is tone-deaf with some of the recommendations put forward, to which Sir Hilary Beckles described those suggestions as being "unfair".
He explained that after meeting with the Ministers and Permanent Secretaries in the various Ministries of Education, they are aware that the exams must be delivered, and it was those representatives that gave a positive light for the exams.
“...it would be unreasonable to say that the Council is tone deaf-because the Council is made up of all of these stakeholders, and the stakeholders are not tone-deaf, and the Ministers are not tone deaf,” added Sir Beckles.
Meanwhile, the Chairman noted that there is a built-in flexibility of time to accommodate any unforeseen circumstance, and “we are certainly hoping that we have no shocks coming our way… we’ve shown the flexibility [and] the willingness to compromise”.
