The results of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) have been released to the Education Ministry, but clarification has been sought for instances of ungraded results issued.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand
The Caribbean Examinations Council released the results to the various Education Ministries regionally, and after analysing the data provided, Guyana was among other countries to request queries.
At the official announcement on Thursday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Education Minister Priya Manickchand said officials are still combing through the figures, but each school is being reviewed for discrepancies.
“I believe all our queries are in relation to ungraded marks, particularly in the area of Mathematics, and I believe we had Geography…We have been resolving those as we went along. I believe at this stage, many of the issues raised have been addressed, and we are assured that CXC will not stop until they’re all addressed. We are also undergoing, at the level of the Exams Division, a review of each and every school, inclusive of sitting with our teachers and head teachers to make sure that the results that are proposed that they look like what we expect them to look like,” she underscored.
Last year, the structure of the exams was modified in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a total of 20 schools in 15 CSEC and CAPE subject areas had received ungraded results and subjects. These revelations sparked widespread public outrage, with other students demanding answers from the examinations body as it relates to the poor grades assigned.
However, following intervention from Guyana, other countries soon led similar calls for a review. There was a total of 14 schools where students who were “ungraded” received results with grades. The Independent Review Team convened by the Chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, later completed its report on the review of the modified approach for the administration of the 2020 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.
Coming out of the review, the Minister said, all of Guyana’s queries were addressed. From the surplus of 11,400 cases, thousands of students had seen positive changes to their grades.
“All of our queries last were resolved…In Guyana, we had a significant number of queries changed for the better, where students did better. It was Guyana that led that charge. We were the people that brought this to the attention of CXC, and said that our children are not going to accept these grades. So, we had a universal remark, sort of,” Manickchand posited.
Chief Executive Officer at CXC, Dr Wayne Wesley, added that in light of what transpired, a decision was taken this year for the Ministries to view the results and highlight concerns. According to him, the ungraded status connotates that the Council is yet to make a ‘final determination’.
“Coming out of what occurred last year, we would have consciously made the decision, under recommendations of the Ministers of Education across the region, that we have discussion with the Ministry before we release the results. So, if there are any concerns that they have, it can be addressed before the release of results…Ministries would have raised concerns particularly where we had ungraded, which is an indication that we’re still awaiting additional information to make a final determination. The other queries were somewhat operational and restrictive in nature,” Dr Wesley detailed.
