CXC eyes digital exam
Published:Saturday | May 20, 2023 | 12:57 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) says it is aiming to get the region ready for full electronic testing of digitised exams, a move it believes would assist in eliminating the recurring leaks of Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) test papers.
Dr Wayne Wesley, registrar and chief executive officer (CEO) of CXC, stated yesterday that the Council has been considering such a move since 2007.
Wesley was responding to questions posed by The Gleaner during a virtual press briefing where it was revealed that Jamaica was the source of the leak of this year’s CSEC Mathematics Paper 2, which students sat on Wednesday.
He went on to outline that, since the beginning of the year, CXC has had the capability of doing all multiple-choice examinations electronically but was still working on digitising paper 2 assessments – a process he said he was hopeful would be completed quickly.
“However, given the vast difference among the region with respect to the IT (information technology) infrastructure that is required for the administration for electronic testing, we have to be working currently with the ministries on a particular schedule that will see us over a period of time implementing fully electronic testing,” he told The Gleaner, stating that it would also aid in advancing the security levels surrounding examinations.
“Of course, you would have cybersecurity to deal with, but it will give us greater control as to when exams are dispatched and ready ... and the geographical areas that we would have to cover for the execution of an exam in any one country,” Wesley said.
Speaking with The Gleaner following the CXC’s press briefing, Senator Damion Crawford, Opposition spokesman on education, shared similar concerns relating to the impact on some students if exams become electronically administered.
“Because of the low prevalence of digital access in Jamaica, that would be something that I’d have to get further information as to how they would facilitate students who are in rural areas and also how we facilitate practice to be comfortable with that mode,” he said.
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On the matter of the findings of the investigation carried out by the CXC, Wesley stated that the Council had identified the examination centre where the breach occurred.
He did not name the individual(s) involved and further refused to divulge information regarding the parish or examination centre where the breach was found.
Wesley, however, stated that instructions had been given that the compromised papers be removed from the centre with immediate effect. He also noted that the leak spanned across several Caribbean nations and that the information was disseminated across various social media platforms such as WhatsApp.
He said further investigations were required to gather more information regarding the number of countries affected.
In the meantime, students will no longer have to fear having to resit the examination as the CXC will use a different measure to determine their final math grades, he reassured.
The final results will now be calculated using the scores from the CSEC Mathematics Paper 1 and marks from the School-Based Assessment (SBAs) or CSEC Mathematics Paper 3 (2) – an alternative to the SBA research requirements. The decision which has been communicated to regional ministries of education.
Wesley said the CXC was working with Jamaica’s Ministry of Education and Youth in its investigations and had not reported the incident to the police.
To ensure that a repeat of this kind of incident does not recur, Wesley told journalists that the Council would pay keen attention to the kinds of activities which would have led to a breach.
Wesley stated that the CXC had been reviewing and enhancing its process of delivery of papers across the region prior to when examinations take place and was in the process of conducting regional audits of its local operations to ensure conformity to security protocols.
“These are all systems that are predicated on the integrity of human beings, being the person that is responsible to manage these processes and that is of great concern [as] we can’t necessarily legislate morality but, unfortunately, among us, we do have situations where those traits are not necessarily forthcoming,” he said.
Crawford, who is himself a long-time CXC mathematics teacher, sympathised with those students who had “studied hard” and executed as such, noting that he was sorry that the leak occurred in their year and that he was hopeful that any impact on their scores would not affect them negatively as they transition to the next stage of their lives.
“The persons who are intent on breaking the rules in this way, they have done a disservice to their colleagues, but I don’t believe that they feel any remorse in the disservice,” he said.
Paula-Anne Moore, parent advocate and spokesperson for a Barbados-based group of concerned parents, stated in a media release on Friday that 20,000 students, who signed a regional petition for a fair resolution to the CSEC Maths exam breach, were breathing a sigh of relief and were “much more settled and less anxious as the uncertainty of the exam’s treatment has now been removed by CXC”.
Moore said the wait for the outcome of deliberations had caused added stress on candidates who were already going through the tedious process of undergoing other examinations.
She commended the solution offered by the Council, stating that it was “fair to the majority of candidates: our hardworking ethical children”.