Education ministers: Original CXC format to be used in 2021

In this file photo from December 2020, Form 6 students of Saint Mary's College, CIC, do last minute revision before their CXC physics exam. Photo by Vidya Thurab
In this file photo from December 2020, Form 6 students of Saint Mary's College, CIC, do last minute revision before their CXC physics exam. Photo by Vidya Thurab

Ministers of education from across the region have decided that this year’s Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams will use their original format.

A release from the Ministry of Education said the ministers met as the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) on Monday to discuss the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE).

Protests erupted in September last year when CSEC and CAPE students received what they believed to be unfair grades. The exam was restructured owing to the closure of schools during the onset of the covid19 pandemic in March. The reconstructed exams excluded paper two, also known as the long paper.

COHSOD is a Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) initiative. One of its aims is to promote the development of education through the efficient organisation of educational and training facilities in Caricom.

At the meeting, the ministers came to the consensus that this year’s examinations will consist of papers one (multiple choice), two (long paper), and three (school-based assessments).

The release said changes to the SBA requirement have already been communicated to schools. Exams will take place in June and July and results will be released in the last week of September.

It said paper 2 will not contain option items, but the broad topics will be released by CXC to the regional ministries five weeks before exams begin.

Paper one will not be restructured.

Students will be given the option, up to May 2021, to defer exam dates from 2021 to 2022 without penalty. and with the transfer of SBA grades.

UWI will extend its matriculation waiver for another year, to allow the entry of CAPE matriculants into the university for the start of academic year 2021/2022 based on their year one CAPE results.

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