Education Minister (ag) Nicolette Henry has lauded the launch of the Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) mobile application ‘CXC connect’, saying education is now thriving in “exciting times”.
The app was launched in Barbados last Thursday, and on Monday the Minister and other officials of the Education Ministry met at the Giftland Mall to praise the initiative.
“We are truly in exciting times, where ICT is, at last, providing a chance for our countries to be globally competitive in innovation and education,” the Minister told officials.
According to Minister Henry, educators must not fail to embrace and apply new technology to education. According to her, the new app will bring much easier access to results to students.
“The website will no doubt be transformative to the child with a laptop, a smartphone, and an Internet connection.”
With the newly launched Connect app, not only will students be able to access examination results as soon as they are released, they will also be able to carry them in their pockets wherever they go, via their smartphones and other mobile devices.
Students, parents and even educators have over the years complained about the late arrival of the examination results, and though efforts were made to see the early release of grades, the new app will reduce that waiting time to an all-time significant low.
The app will be available to students as early as August 12.
Students, who sat the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) during the May/June 2017 exams, will be able to utilise the app to access their results on August 12. Meanwhile students who wrote the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) exam will be able to access their results via the app on August 15.
Assistant Registrar, Webmaster Ayodele Pompey, gave a demonstration of the app at the launching event. He said beyond results students can also get information, advice and guidance as well, via CXC Connect.
In terms of the benefits for persons who sat CXC exams prior to 2017, Pompey said there is currently no archive for past students, however, that should be ruled as an addition to the second or third generation versions of the CXC Connect app.
“One of the things the app does is to enhance the communication perspective between CXC and its various stakeholders, students included. Part of that whole process is to be able to deliver information as it happens,” he said
Regard results and the timing of results, the Assistant Registrar said CXC has always been seeking to shorten the time from the examination to the results cycle. He assured that is something that will be ongoing.
“But with respect to the app, whatever result immediacies we can be able to improve on certainly the app will provide that information at that time. For example, if we determine in the future and I believe that this is something that we will be able to do, if we determine that we can be able to enhance our delivery times, the app will be the most ideal thing to use.”
In terms of what the future holds, he reiterated, “there will definitely be a shortening of time.”
Parents and guardians can also receive tips to help their children and be guided on charges using the mobile app.
