CXC working towards a fully digitised system; to revise curriculums

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has created a five-year strategic plan which aims to fully digitise the Council by 2025.

Chief Executive Officer and Registrar Dr Wayne Wesley Thursday said the plan will also create a platform to provide relevant, quality, and globally recognised education.

According to Dr Wesley, there needs to be a balance where students are equipped with critical competency that can be applied to any content. He said what is being taught in schools with the current curriculum cannot apply to everyday life.

“A lot of us now in the working world have to be getting on google…what we learnt in school no longer applies now,” he said Thursday during the announcement of the results of the CSEC and CAPE exams.

The new strategic plan also includes a structured system of transformation to include research and development.

Dr Wesley revealed that a Research and Development Department will be set up. This will be able to analyse data on students’ performance over the years and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, a Research Advisory Committee, which will be include individuals from the University of Guyana and the University of the West Indies, will be formulated to help create areas of focus, new curricula and revise the current curricula.

CXC is currently developing new programmes such as biotechnology and bioengineering, artificial intelligence and robotics.

“…and in that context, we would not have to be worrying about how we prepare students and giving extra lessons all over the place.

“We would worry about ensuring that students demonstrate the requisite competencies to perform in society,” Dr Wesley explained.

He said extra lessons put pressure on students and also creates an “overload” of information.

“…and when they are stressed out, we wonder what is happening.”

According to Dr Wesley, the pandemic has shown that there is not enough time to cover the entire curriculum.

“I don’t know why we can’t have a curriculum that allows students to complete what they need to know in the four years the Ministry of Education would have established for students to learn,” Dr Wesley said.

Dr Wesley assured of CXC’s commitment to the region in transforming the education system.

Meanwhile, for this year’s exams, the electronic testing platform was utilised in 19 countries for the CAPE exams and 73 subjects were written online

For CSEC, 20 countries used the platform and 34 subjects were written. However, students reported challenges with power outages and poor internet connection.