BARBADOS (Friday, October 2, 2020) — Concerns raised in the public domain, with respect to the efficacy of procedures and systems used by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) in its computation and declaration of student performance data are of great importance to the organisation, claimed CXC Chairman, Sir Hilary Beckles, in a statement on Monday.
The Chairman, who is also the Vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, disclosed that the Registrar, Dr Wayne Wesley, and his team, met with regional Ministers of Education, “in order to discuss these concerns and identify the underlying causes, with a view to moving forward and providing clarity to our stakeholders and enhanced support”.
“CXC is satisfied that Ministers have received explanations for its positions, in light of the public discourse. It is understood, that while there might be policy and technical issues to be addressed, immediately, the maintenance of public trust going forward is paramount,” Sir Hilary explained.
He promised that there will be ongoing dialogue with regional Ministries of Education, based upon the official gathering of data relevant to all ventilated concerns, and addded that “Each and every formally reported case will be reviewed, and where remedies are required, they will be applied.”
“Management at CXC has been impressive in the delivery of the July 2020 regional examinations, within the context of the COVID-19 logistics nightmare, and crippling global doubt about revised examinations systems and procedures. I commend the team at CXC® for their effort to serve the best they can – the people of our region.
“Nonetheless, it was anticipated that given these specific challenges, a period of review and possible revisions would follow, consistent with the regulations of the Council. It has been agreed, therefore, that an Independent Review Team will shortly begin this work and present a report for discussion with relevant stakeholders,” Beckles, who also Chairs the CARICOM Reparations Committee, concluded in his statement.