Outgoing president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Winston Smith, is encouraging teachers to remain focussed and hopeful, as they prepare for the new academic year which begins on September 5.
“I want you to transform our education
One could only imagine the collective jubilation of Caribbean students, teachers, parents, friends and relatives with the news that the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) intends to delay this year’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) by three weeks.It is the result of intense lobbying from the Caribbean Union of Teachers; parent advocate Paula-Anne Moore, the spokesman for the Caribbean Coalition for Exam Redress and Group of Concerned Parents of Barbados; the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union; and the Barbados Union of Teachers, all of whom were supported by regional governments, notably education ministers Fayal Williams of Jamaica and Barbados’ Kay McConney.So the regional examination body has set the tests to start on May 23 in a bid to give students a fair shot at achieving their best grades after the disruption brought on by COVID-19.
THERE were mixed reactions to Wednesday’s announcement by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) that it has put off regional exams by three weeks in consideration of all the issues raised by st.
By now, most interested parties and even simple onlookers to the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) decision to go ahead with its 2022 examination schedule as though it is just another day in paradise across the region, must be scratching their heads in bemusement.The demand from across the Caribbean to this regional institution that is based in Barbados, is that our children require more time to adequately prepare mainly for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) examinations.They have called for a delay in the schedule of exams, some of which have already started.Unlike the early years of CXC when students wrote one-shot examinations, today, attaining CXC success requires students and teachers to be more involved in extensive pre-examination work which comes in the form of school-based assessments (SBA).Most parents will testify that SBAs can be as stressful as the main examination. And as many students have dis