Bridgetown, Barbados- The number of candidates who were absent for the January sitting of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) is now a cause for concern according to Dr Marcia Potter, Deputy Chair of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).
Dr Potter, also the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture in the British Virgin Islands, was speaking as she chaired the 70th Meeting of the Final Awards Committee (FAC) of CXC on Friday 16 February 2018 at CXC Headquarters in Barbados. During the meeting, it was revealed that in a number of subjects, many candidates did not show up for their examinations, which were paid for by either the candidates or their governments.
“I am a concerned about the number of absentees. It is cause for concern that tax payers money is being used to pay [for examinations fees] and candidates are not showing up to write the examinations,” Dr Potter lamented.
Absenteeism has always been an issue in the January sitting, however, this year it was significantly higher in some subjects: Office Administration (41 %); English B (37 %); Principles of Accounts (31%); Information Technology (30%); and Social Studies (28 %).
CXC Response
In noting the issue, Registrar of CXC, Mr Glenroy Cumberbatch said CXC is responding to help candidates better prepare for the January sitting. The Registrar said CXC plans to provide more detailed feedback to candidates on their performance so that they know exactly their areas of strengths and weaknesses. In addition, he said the CXC Learning Hub will provide additional resources to candidates to aid their examinations preparation. The Learning Hub is expected to be ready by the end of September 2018.
Mixed performance
The overall performance in the January sitting was mixed, with some subjects in the Natural Science cognate cluster seeing marked improvements while there were declining performance on other subjects. Performance in Biology saw the most significant improvement with 71 per cent of entries achieving acceptable grades – Grades I-III. This improvement was as a result of better performance on all three profiles: Knowledge and Comprehension, Use of Knowledge and Experimental Skills.