Students who should be sitting CXC exams this coming summer are still in limbo as to when they will be taking them, and if they are even ready to do so. This is because the Council itself has not set a definite date - but how can they, when the pandemic remains unpredictable? Today, the Caribbean Coalition for 2020 Exam Redress held a regional press conference where they outlined all the concerns from educators, parents, and students.
Belize's own Salome Tillett, principal of St Catherine's Academy, gave a presentation as part of the country's case study. She outlined the predictions that the teachers had for several subjects in the past CXC exams and noted the starch difference with the result - with students doing more poorly than was expected.
With that observation, Tillett pleaded on behalf of the students who have been out of school since March and will possibly remain out of school for the next semester.
Salome Tillett - Principal, St Catherine's Academy "How can we in good conscience still be deciding what we will do at this point? The exam is the result of three years in the case of Belize two years of preparations, we are months away from the exam. We are still deciding how many papers will be a part of the exam, we are still deciding when the exam will be - what does that do to the students? If we were students, how would we be preparing? How would we be signing up? Sign up is in a few days, our deadline is next week. How do we sign up for exams when we are still uncertain what papers we will sit, when the exams will be done, if there would be modification to the syllables which are all conversations still happening now? Are the students at the heart of what we are doing? The student that didn't have access to a computer for months, the student who has been getting a paper package to take home with little or no support for instruction, the student who does not have access to technology, does that student belong to us? When we look at the local currency of CSEC, here in Belize, CSEC is not a requirement for any of the junior colleges in Belize. Less than 50% of the junior colleges, in fact I only noted four of the eleven junior colleges preparing students for CAPE in Belize. It is not a mandatory entry requirement for public service jobs. This year, continuing the trend that I have experienced, less than 50% of St Catherine' Academy have signed up to sit six CXC exams."
The conference also included testimonials from parents and students as well as similar case studies from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
