Educators sway Gov’t on July start to CXCs, says Samuda
Published:Tuesday | May 19, 2020 | 12:20 AM
JAMAICAN STUDENTS are now scheduled to sit Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams beginning July 27.
The announcement was made yesterday by Karl Samuda, the stand-in minister of education, who was speaking at a Jamaica House media briefing on Monday evening.
The Holness administration indicated its displeasure at CXC’s insistence to host the external exams in two months but appeared to concede that the majority of stakeholders with whom it met backed the proposed deadline.
The Jamaica Teachers’ Association and Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools had proposed that the exams be scrapped.
Kingston and Port-of-Spain had been mounting resistance to the regional body’s move to have the exams scheduled.
But it appears that the Government has settled with CXC to participate in this year’s sitting.
The CXC exams include CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) and CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations).
“We will write the CXC exams starting on Monday, July 27, 2020. Starting on the 27th, it takes about a couple of weeks to complete the exams, but the process will start. Social distancing can be accommodated quite easily, as all schools are closed, making it quite convenient for those sitting the exams,” Samuda said yesterday.
The minister said that he has had a meeting with 135 principals and the people who coordinate the examinations.
“We will now go about the business of making the logistical arrangements so that no child taking these exams beyond the challenges they have already encountered will be compromised,” Samuda said.
Controversial issue
“It will be a controversial issue for some time because views are strong on both sides.“We are going forward with these exams knowing that we are not entirely ready for the exams in certain schools … . Other schools are very ready,” he said.
“We will have two stages of the exams, that is, the Internet and one that is paper-based. We will do our best to facilitate our students to write these exams and to maximise their potential going forward. It is a critical turning point in our education system … this setback will only strengthen the process to make us more conscious of what is to be done and how quickly we have to get it done,” Samuda explained.