Education Minister: Government sympathises with students

ONE of the major grouses of parents who protested outside the Red House on Wednesday was the perceived lack of compassion from CXC on their concerns over the system used to grade CAPE and CSEC exams written this year.

Commenting on the parents' feelings, Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said, while she could not speak to the compassion or lack thereof of CXC, she could assure protesters that the government “Understands how difficult the situation is.”

She said on Monday that government decided to pay the reduced cost of reviews for the 2020 cohort.

The cost to request a review to CXC was reduced by 50 per cent from US$30 to $15.

She added, “However, as ministers of education met, we agreed that students from territories that could not afford to do this should also have the opportunity, hence the request that the council consider the recommendation to remove fees for reviews for 2020.”

After claiming to be unfairly graded in their CSEC and CAPE exams, students across the region have been protesting against the council. TT saw its first protest on Monday as a group of 12
parents took to the streets with placards in hand. Barbados and Guyana have seen numerous protests since results were released on September 22.

Parents and students have also called on the council to return their papers so they can examine the breakdown of their grades themselves.

The ministry was criticised by High Court Judge Justice Devindra Rampersad for its failure to review an agreement with CXC over examination scripts.

In a ruling on Tuesday, the ministry’s refusal to provide a mother with access to her child’s SEA scripts was called “illegal, irrational, unfair and amounted to a breach of the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.”

When asked on Thursday if the ruling could be applied to CSEC and CAPE students, Gadsby-Dolly said, while the two issues were related, they were not quite the same.

“CXC is a regional exam, SEA is local. However, the judgment would have implications on both exams, yes,” she said. “The extent of it will be determined by legal officers.”