Garcia: Regional education ministers want July exams

EDUCATION Minister Anthony Garcia said regional education ministers were in support of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations being held in July.

He was responding to an urgent question in Parliament on Friday on whether he would seriously reconsider rescheduling the CSEC examinations from July 2020 to some other date agreed upon by various stakeholders in the education system, in light of recent appeals by the TT Unified Teachers Association to the Government.

Garcia said the question was predicated on the notion that the Education Minister could unilaterally reschedule CSEC exams. 

He explained that CXC is a regional examination body which has the direct responsibility of administering the CSEC and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) exams. 

He said on May 8 the sixth special emergency meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development was held. 

He noted it was a virtual meeting and it was attended by education ministers of the region. One of the areas of discussion was the CXC administration of regional examinations in 2020 due to the impact of covid-19. 

The meeting decided that the CSEC and CAPE exams would be held in July 2020.

“This was a decision of the regional ministers of education. Any change can only be effected if the ministers of education collectively decide on any change.”

Garcia said hat he has been in contact with Antigua’s education minister Michael Browne, who chaired the May 8 meeting, and he told him that all regional ministers of education were in support of the examinations being held in July.

 Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh asked if Garcia held consultation with local stakeholders and whether he was satisfied all school-based assessments had been evaluated and marks computed “to give the students a sense of comfort to sit the exam in July 2020.” 

The Speaker however did not allow the question.