Faced with widespread concern from parents and the general public, the Ministry of Education announced yesterday that CSEC and CAPE examinations set for May 11—the date named as election day—would now be shifted to June 15.
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand made this announcement yesterday at a press conference during which she also revealed that the shifting of the examinations would not be done at any additional cost to the candidates but the entire cost would be borne by the Government of Guyana.
Examinations that were slated for May 12 will now be written on June 16.
Soon after President Donald Ramotar’s announcement last week that May 11 was the date for regional and general elections many persons expressed concern because some children were slated to write Caribbean Secon-dary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.
In announcing the shift, Manickchand said her ministry is always keen to ensure that examinations are conducted in a smooth and effective manner and as such has been in consultation with the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and other stakeholders about what might be best for the candidates.
“Several possible options that could be exercised were discussed and considered. At all times during the discussions and deliberations, the ministry’s paramount consideration was the best interest of the candidates,” the minister told reporters gathered at the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD).
For the shift, CXC has prepared additional examinations in the same subject and all examination papers are equal in value and weight.
Registrar of CXC Glenroy Cumberbatch, who was present at the press conference, said that it is not unusual for the same examination to be written on different date in countries. He said while it is the first time the date is being shifted because of general elections there have been cases in other countries when the examination had to be written on a date different from that of other countries. Because of this, Cumberbatch said, CXC will always have “back up papers” meaning that there are two sets of papers on the same subject.
There was one case where all the papers had to be renewed in in one country after there were suspicions of leaked papers.
He said for Guyana CXC’s principle concern in shifting the date was to ensure that the candidates have the opportunity to write the examinations in the same conditions that they normally use from day to day.
“The schools are the centres that are chosen and if the schools are to be used as polling stations meant that it was not possible to have the two activities competing for the same space at the same time and therefore it was important to ensure that the candidates are not disadvantaged in anyway on that given day,” Cumberbatch said.
The registrar said they also considered the integrity of the papers, ensuring they are kept intact and that the movement to the centres would be done in a manner that would not present itself in any leakage of the paper.
Manickchand said that CXC will mark all scripts and issue all results at the same time the CXC/CAPE results were originally scheduled to be delivered. CXC will also officially inform candidates about this change in their time tables and the ministry will also take all necessary steps to ensure each and every candidate is informed of the timetable change.
Meantime, asked if she could not have advised President Ramotar that examinations were slated for that date, Manickchand said that while the president is entitled to name an election date he cannot by himself do it as he has to ensure that the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) can facilitate an election on that date. According to the minister she understands that that all the possible dates given by the commission for possible elections were during the CXC period.
“It was inevitable that we would have faced this slight hurdle which I believe we would crossed effectively,” she said.
The minister reiterated that they were concerned about what would be in the best interest of the candidates and took into consideration the availability of space, given that schools are designated polling places.
“The Ministry of Education expects the Guyanese public to be mature and civilized in the execution of [their] very necessary democratic rights and freedoms in choosing the government of their country. We were not overly concerned because of security reasons because like I said we expect mature behaviour that would not see us having security concerns,” the minister when asked whether security on the date was taken into consideration.
