One of the subjects of study developed by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) that has been slowly gaining ground is Drama, which is offered at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level as Theatre Arts and at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) level as a part of the Performing Arts.
It is a most underrated and misunderstood subject whose strength, value, importance and academic worth have not been properly appreciated by schools and their administrators. Yet there are factors that lend these studies of drama considerable significance.
Among the more valuable and enduring features at the CSEC level is the study of Cultural Forms. The programme includes Playmaking as one of the examinable components in which students work in groups to create and perform a short play whose theme and storyline must be based on a cultural form. These are usually prescribed and periodically changed. For example, the selected forms have included Carnival, the Land Ship, Mashramani, Wake, La Rose, Storytelling and Stick Fighting.
