THE decision to shift the dates for the upcoming Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), which had coincided with the May 11 General and Regional Elections, was welcomed by Executive Member of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Cathy Hughes.“I am very happy that the date… has been changed, because just the worry of elections would have been an impediment on our students, guaranteeing that they had a great opportunity of doing their best,” she told the Guyana Chronicle, in an invited comment yesterday.

She explained that the AFC is happy with the decision made by the Government so that these students do not have to carry that burden of sitting the exam “while people are voting next door, excluding everything else that could happen during that period.”
According to her, her party’s primary concerns related to the students, parents and teachers, who would have spent “a good five years” preparing for these exams.
“The distraction of an election could have affected them in some way. The exams are fundamental to help our fifth form students move forward in life, and it also determines whether they go to university or further training,” Hughes said.
The AFC executive member stressed that the AFC is committed to ensuring that the students have the best opportunity of doing their best when they sit these exams.
Hughes added, “Even if everything went perfectly well on elections day, which we think will happen, or what we hope will happen, we know that just the worry, just the fear of an elections on the same day of the exam would have been an impediment on our students, guaranteeing that they had a great opportunity of doing their best.
“So I am very happy, we the AFC do not want to deny any student anywhere in this country an opportunity to excel or do their best at any exam, so I’m glad the distraction of an election has been moved from them.”
When asked whether elections should have been pushed back instead, Hughes made it clear that the AFC’s preference is that the elections be held as soon as possible.
“We want an election as soon as possible because it is absolutely necessary to take us out of a gridlock,” the AFC executive member said.