‘Ungraded’ results distress Port Kaituma CSEC students

Several students at the Port Kaituma Secondary school, in Region One, are distressed after receiving ungraded results for Mathematics, English Language, and Principles of Business (PoB) at this year’s CSEC Examinations.

Earlier this week, students and teachers from three of the country’s top secondary schools– Queen’s College, the Bishop’s High School, and the St. Joseph High- decried major discrepancies they believed accompanied the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC)’s CSEC and CAPE results for this year.

One educator, who wished to remain unnamed, from the Port Kaituma Secondary School, told the News Room that these discrepancies are not isolated to those “town” schools but are affecting his students in the hinterland as well.

At this secondary school, 62 candidates received ungraded results for the Mathematics and English Language (English A) subjects. Of that set, 21 candidates also recorded ungraded results for the PoB Examination.

“Some of my students received nine passes and three ungraded,” the Region One Educator highlighted, adding how confusing this was to the students and himself.

When the school received the broadsheet from the regional examinations body, it was observed that the ungraded results were as a result of a non-submission of School-Based Assessments (SBAs). The educator vehemently denied this and even provided screenshots of the confirmation email received from the CXC after the SBAs of his students were uploaded.

That confirmation email listed the names of the students and the centre they were from, the subject SBA they were submitting, and the date the SBAs were submitted.

“We have solid proof!” he exclaimed, relating that not only was this ordeal confusing, but it was distressing the students and the teachers. He said the students are “heartbroken” while teachers are “angry and frustrated”.

This year, due to the CXC’s decision to discard the normal Paper Two in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, these SBAs and the Paper One examinations are what constitutes the students’ grades.

Via a Facebook post on the school’s Facebook page, the Teacher-in-Charge of the Port Kaituma Secondary school, Annmarie Daniels related that the concerns were being addressed.

On her own Facebook page, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand announced that the CXC has agreed to resolve the “ungraded” issue seen at many schools by grading the papers already sent to them or the Local Registrar.

She also announced that Guyana would be making an official request for the review of the scripts of schools, given the concerns about the discrepancies and anomalies raised by schools.

The CXC held a press conference on Friday, as the claims of discrepancies and anomalies were being increasingly rampant from schools all across the Caribbean. The CXC Registrar, Dr Wayne Wesley reminded that there is a long-established protocol where anyone with questions about an Absent or Ungraded result, may submit a Query while those with questions about their grade who would like to have a script re-examined may submit a request for a Review.

He indicated that those queries are free, while the cost per review is USD$30.00. Despite the widespread claims being made against the examining body, the Registrar said that CXC will not engage in an overall review of the grades nor will the body be waiving the review fee for students.