CXC praised for modified exams

CAPE and CSEC students received their long-awaited grades on Tuesday afternoon. In a Zoom press conference, the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) announced the overall results of the exams and Barbados’ Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw praised the council for its decision to apply a modified approach – given covid19 restrictions – despite initial pushback from education stakeholders.

She said although other countries had taken the approach to cancel high stake exams in light of the covid19 pandemic, opting to award qualifications on the basis of the predicted grades and student performances made by teachers, CXC pressed on with exams by modifying the format.

“In the modified approach which was adopted by CXC, an unprecedented step was taken to revise the examination strategy with a view to ensuring that candidates would be awarded valid grades through the assessment of critical competencies while minimizing the potential disruption of the education system.”

Bradshaw said it was always the sole intention of the council to preserve the integrity of the exam, even though they did not have the full support of stakeholders throughout the process.

Minister of Education Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, in a brief phone interview with Newsday, echoed Bradshaw’s sentiments saying she was happy students were able to sit the exam.

“It would have been much worse if they were not able to write their exam. It is good that CXC took into consideration the situation students were in in terms of losing class time.”

Gadsby-Dolly said although there were mixed views on removing the written portion of the exam, given how traumatic and difficult the situation was for students, “the effort to recognise that and represent it in the altered structure was appreciated.

“In hindsight, CXC must be commended for the decision it took to develop the modified approach...Sometimes change often causes a lot of rumblings in many circles but I think more than anything, covid19 has taught us that change sometimes is a good thing.”

Except for modern languages, human and social biology and visual arts at the CSEC level, candidates did not have to write the traditional paper two this year. Final grades were largely based on the moderated School Based Assessment (SBAs) and the multiple-choice papers.