Letter of the Day | CXC, please hear the cry of the children

THE EDITOR, Madam:

This CXC examination period once again has a cloud of uncertainty looming over it due to the unprecedented circumstances facing students. Since the release of the 2022 Examination Timetables, stakeholders have been asking the council to act in the best interest of students across the region and delay the sitting of papers by a minimum of two weeks.

Having been presented with multiple logical reasons to consider the request, CXC has proven to be unresponsive and unbending. We, the students, find this unacceptable.

As the primary stakeholders of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), it is essential that our voices be heard by the organisation that holds the power to shape our academic future. It goes without saying that students this year have not been operating under ‘normal circumstances’, which is why we cannot understand why CXC is so adamant about proceeding with “business as usual”. This cohort of candidates is at a severe disadvantage, having been learning virtually for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This current set of lower sixth form students is especially challenged. The pandemic struck when we were completing our fourth-form year, causing us to lose a term and a half of quality teaching and learning of the CSEC syllabus.

After completing the entire fifth-form year online and receiving our results in mid-October, we started the CAPE syllabus also on the virtual medium (many of us at the end of October), which significantly impacted the transition to the advanced level. The CAPE curriculum relies heavily on the skills acquired at the CSEC level, which could not be properly honed over the virtual medium.

We have only been back in face-to-face classrooms since mid-January and do not believe that we have properly developed these to the extent required. We cannot understand why CXC believes that we are at a comfortable level of preparedness in the midst of all these challenges.

UPHILL BATTLE

It feels like an uphill battle with an educational organisation that has pledged to work in the best interest of the students. We understand that there is a designated period for marking, and do not want to impede the progress of those graduating to a higher level of education. However, a two-week delay of the exams should not affect this. It would, however, allow the students to be more secure in the content for their various subjects, permit practice and proper completion of School Based Assessments (SBAs), and alleviate the immense anxiety currently being experienced by the exam candidates.

It is incredibly disheartening to us that CXC has not given any thought to even consider a delay or make any concession, despite the outcry from our parents, teachers, principals, and ministers of government.

We, as the May 2022 examination cohort, deserve for our voices to be heard. We respectfully request a two-week delay to the start of the 2022 CXC examination period.

CXC holds the power to mould the future of an entire generation beyond the exams themselves, and so, the body should act with empathy. We implore you, CXC, to hear the cry of the children.

GABRIELLE CAMPBELL &

LIANNE MELBOURNE

LOWER 6TH FORM CAPE

CANDIDATES

info@campioncollege.com