Deputy Chief Education Officer (Administration) of the Ministry of Education Ingrid Trotman yesterday said that the ministry would be meeting today to discuss matters relating to the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams and safety for the candidates sitting them.
During a telephone interview, Trotman told Stabroek News that the Ministry will be hosting a meeting today on which E-Testing option it will allow candidates to use when they sit their exams come July.
Two weeks ago CXC announced that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,it will offer online and paper-based options for 2020 examinations that it will administer in July, but it is letting the Education Ministry for each Caribbean country determine which option will be the most beneficial for the candidates of said countries.
When CXC unveiled its plans for the administering of the upcoming Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), which are normally held in May and June in countries throughout the Caribbean, it assured that “There is no intention or infrastructure for students to take exams at home. They must come to an approved centre for the exam,” and that “appropriate weighting” will be administered and the exams will be guided by the syllabus. In a Webinar, CXC noted that it cannot necessarily test all syllabus content but will work towards focusing on skills students ought to display having completed the syllabus. “CXC believes that the SBA and Paper 1 is enough to determine a valid grade for a candidate (for the subjects aforementioned),” CXC operatives said.
Regarding the safety of candidates, given that they will have to gather at certain centres to sit the exams, neither CXC nor the Ministry of Education has decided how the students will adhere to social and physical distancing and other COVID-19 rules. When this was mentioned to Trotman, she assured that it would be discussed during today’s meeting. “Well, as I said, we haven’t [discussed it as yet], tomorrow is our meeting,” she responded.
She further mentioned that the ministry has been meeting every day for the past week to discuss matters related to the safety of both students and teachers during the outbreak.
