CXC rebuilding ‘inclusive-decision making’ process

The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) is on a mission to rebuild an inclusive decision-making process with education ministries, student bodies and organisations across the Caribbean.

In a statement issued Wednesday, CXC revealed that a recent meeting was held with the National Secondary Students’ Council (NSSC) of Jamaica to forge a closer relationship between the two entities.

The meeting was held virtually with representatives from NSSC and CXC’s Chief Executive Officer and Registrar, Dr Wayne Wesley.

“This is the first in a series of introductory meetings planned with regional student bodies and leaders as the organisation begin to rebuild an inclusive decision-making process. During the meetings, students will be engaged on CXC’s plans and given the opportunity to share feedback and concerns,” the statement noted.

According to CXC, the inclusive decision-making framework will be utilised by national committees, which will include a cross-section of stakeholders such as representatives from Ministries or Departments of Education and the teaching profession; tertiary institutions, teachers’ unions, nationally-recognised subject associations, teacher training colleges, national secondary school student associations or leaders, national parent-teacher associations, chambers of commerce and the general community.

This is being done in accordance with Article IX of the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Examinations Council – each participating government is required to establish a National Committee in its territory.

CXC noted that these Committees have been inactive for some years now and will be reactivated this year.

Each government will appoint the Chairman of the National Committee from among the members of the Committee. CXC will consult with the Committees on areas such as syllabus content, the appointment of Examiners, candidate performance, CXC’s annual report and any other matters relating to examinations.

“We have indicated to our Council that we are committed to the revitalisation of the National Committees. They will provide our stakeholders, such as students, parents, teachers and colleges, with a formal mechanism through which they can interact with CXC and present issues of concern that we ought to pay attention to and address,” Dr Wesley said.

Members of the NSSC Executive shared suggestions and concerns during the meeting, which included the re-deployment of CXC’s mobile app and interactive sessions with students on Instagram. Ree-Anna Robinson, National Public Relations Officer of the NSSC, expressed appreciation to CXC for the opportunity to be involved in the decision-making process and transformation of the organisation.

CXC came under fire following the release of the July/August 2020 preliminary results of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). A region-wide outcry with discrepancies with the results was reported and CXC continues to work to rectify these issues.