AS pressure continues to mount due to the massive ‘backlash’ across the Caribbean Region, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has announced that an independent review of its 2020 examinations is expected to commence shortly, with possible revisions to follow.
This is according to a statement issued on Monday, by CXC Chairman, Professor, Sir Hilary Beckles, who said the concerns raised are of great importance to the Council and the maintenance of public trust is “paramount”.

“Given these specific challenges, a period of review and possible revisions would follow, consistent with the regulations of the Council. It has been agreed, therefore, that an independent review team will shortly begin this work and present a report for discussion with relevant stakeholders,” Professor Beckles said in the statement.

Professor Beckles said the review would go on notwithstanding CXC addressing all officially reported cases.
“There will be ongoing dialogue with regional Ministries of Education based upon the official gathering of data relevant to all ventilated concerns. Each and every formally-reported case will be reviewed and where remedies are required they will be applied,” Professor Beckles said.

He further noted that the CXC Registrar and CEO, Dr. Wayne Wesley is carrying out discussions with the respective Ministries of Education (MoE) across the Caribbean region to identify the underlying causes of the concerns raised with a view to providing clarity to stakeholders.

“CXC is satisfied that ministers have received explanations for its positions in light of the public discourse. It is understood that while there might be policy and technical issues to be addressed immediately, the maintenance of public trust going forward is paramount,” Professor Beckles said.

Professor Beckles’ statement comes following a lawyer’s letter being sent to the Council, on Monday, on behalf of two school boards in Trinidad and Tobago, and at least one school in Guyana threatening to petition the government here for the country to consider leaving CXC, if the regional institution does not look into the alleged mass discrepancies in its 2020 examinations.

Following CXC’s release of the results of its 2020 examinations last Tuesday, students reported major discrepancies such as unjustifiable lower-than-expected grades and ungraded subjects, in their results at the Council’s two major exams – the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

WIDESPREAD REPORTS

The discrepancies were reported by students across several Caribbean nations where the exams are administered, including Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Lucia and Grenada.

The students were massively supported by their parents, teachers and schools, which all agreed that all was not right with the grades given.
Several ministers of education in the region wrote CXC on behalf of the students seeking clarifications with respect to the efficacy of procedures and systems used in the Council’s computation and declaration of student performance data for 2020, given that a modified version of the annual exams was administered.

For 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which effected school closures across the Caribbean since March, the Council delayed its customary May/June examinations, and, instead, administered them in July/August. The examinations were modified to exclude the regular Paper Two component.
Customarily, students are scored in the exams, based on their performance in a multiple-choice Paper One, the Paper Two, and pre-exam School-Based Assessments (SBAs) or internal Assessments. Each component accounts for a separate percentage of the student’s overall score.

The students and their supporters had called on the Council to explain how the percentage was redistributed this year, given the omission of Paper Two, and what the weighting and scoring methods for this year’s examinations were.

In a press conference held on Friday to address the issue, CXC Registrar, Dr. Wesley, refused to explain how the weighting was done, and in contradiction said that the weighting remained the same as with previous years, despite continuous probing of how that could be possible when the previous years included a Paper Two.

He instead sought to effectively absolve the governing body of any wrongdoing, by declaring that he was satisfied with the level of service provided to students, even in the face of widespread backlash.