Georgetown – Officials of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) said students across the Caribbean performed creditably in the CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Education) and CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) examinations this year, though faced with several challenges.
This year’s CAPE and CSEC exams took place between June and August this year, due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) raging across the Caribbean, and the volcanic eruption in St Vincent and the resulting ashfall in neighbouring islands.
CXC director of operations Dr Nicole Manning said there was a decline in the number of candidates taking the exams and subject entries.
“We saw a reduction… and this would have been our lowest cohort for the last four years,” she said during the official release the results ceremony in Guyana.
“We saw where we had a reduction in candidate entries to 27 750 and for subject entries 110 020… Another significant note was our absentees. It was also the highest we had in four years, 8.83 per cent.”
CXC registrar and chief executive officer, Dr Wayne Wesley said the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of the examiner to revamp its structure.
“What we have all learnt from COVID-19 is the awakening of the collective consciousness at the governance, leadership, operational and functional levels of the inadequacies of our normative systems and the awareness of the need to collectively reimagine and rethink the development of a more inclusive and resilient socio-economic system of development,” he said.
“It is within this resilient environment that the critical function of developing the human capital through teaching, learning and assessment will continue.”
CXC said the online release of results to students will take place on Friday.
(AR)
