Guyana engaging CXC on ‘ungraded’ results again; top performers to be announced later

Ahead of the release of the results of this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), Guyana has been engaging the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) on some ‘ungraded’ results.

The results for the Caribbean were announced at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at Liliendaal, Georgetown on Thursday. There, CXC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Registrar Dr Wayne Wesley revealed that some education ministries across the Caribbean have been engaging CXC on some concerns with the results provided by the Council.

When asked by the News Room, Guyana’s Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said that Guyana’s Education Ministry was one of those ministries engaging CXC on some concerns.

When asked for further clarity, she stated: “… all of our queries were in relation to ungraded (results) in Mathematics and some in Geography.”

She, however, noted that the ministry started engaging CXC on these concerns days before and that many of the issues raised have been addressed. According to Manickchand, the ministry has been assured that CXC will continue to address those concerns raised.

While engaging reporters at the sidelines of the event, the Education Minister added that the results from this year’s examinations, including the names of the top performers and pass rates, will be announced at a later date – once the concerns raised have all been addressed.

Across the region, Dr. Wesley said that other ministers have been engaging CXC on similar concerns about ungraded results and also on queries that are “operational and administrative in nature”.

Specifically, on the ungraded results, Dr. Wesley stated that these are not final results but that CXC will continue to engage schools and ministries on getting the input – such as outstanding School-Based Assessment (SBA) grades- so that these grades can be finalised.

It is important to note that Dr. Wesley also related that CXC made the decision to engage these stakeholders before the release of the results to the candidates, in light of the major discrepancies that were raised after last year’s results. On Thursday, it was noted that some 11,451 CAPE grade reviews were done while 9,999 reviews were done at the CSEC levels.

This year, candidates will be able to access their results online from Friday evening. Additionally, if students and candidates still have concerns beyond those raised by the Ministries of Education, Dr. Wesley said that they have until November 15 to raise those queries or concerns.

“We hope that is at a minimum and we are not expecting that really,” he said.