The review process being conducted by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) 2020 results is further delayed due to a lockdown in Barbados. The CXC Headquarters is based in Barbados.
Minister Manickchand was hoping to announce the results on Wednesday.
These exams were written in July/August 2020 but after CXC released the preliminary results in September, there was a region-wide outcry about a number of discrepancies hence the review process.
A total of 12,009 students were registered to write the CSEC exams from Guyana with a total of 70, 710 entries in various subject areas. Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand during a press conference on Wednesday revealed that the review process for Guyana is now at 90 per cent.
She said it would be premature to announce the top students at this time, noting that students’ grades which are yet to be reviewed can change the overall outcome.
“A check of the pending reviews showed a number of candidates could receive review changes that may likely affect the list of candidates with the highest number of grade ones,” Minister Manickchand said.
A total of 1, 258 reviews were submitted to CXC by 500 CSEC students; 128 students are still waiting for their reviews to be processed. It was noted that grade changes were awarded to 456 reviews while 674 grades remain the same.
“You would think in ordinary circumstances they would have taken just a few weeks to finish the four per cent outstanding and to give us our entire 100 per cent result. They are affected by the lockdown that is happening there and it is not something we can be unsympathetic to. The world is in this pandemic right now so that is what is being uncertain, so I can’t say when and they can’t say when they are going to finish,” the Education Minister stated.
According to Manickchand, a lot of students would need the certificates from CXC to move on to tertiary education both at the local and international level.
As such, CXC has been in talks with universities to explain the situation while the universities would have also waived entry requirements as a result of the pandemic.
“Students have begun to receive some certificates especially at the CAPE level from CXC so that they can use those internationally to assess tertiary education but it has really affected persons mentally,” the minister said.
