There has been an increase in the number of entries regionally this year for candidates and subjects for the Caribbean Examinations Council's (CXC's) examinations, including the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).
On Thursday, at the ceremony for the CXC's official release of results ceremony for the CXC May/June 2023 regional examinations held in St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Nicole Manning gave an overview of the results. The ceremony was also broadcasted on Zoom.
Manning, CXC's director of operations, said the increase was a sign that "we are out of the woods" from covid19. CAPE candidate and subject entries moved from 99,000 to over 101,000, which Manning considered "an important and significant move."
CSEC saw 106,000 entries compared to 103,000 last year.
For 2023, the administration also saw entry increases for the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) and Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA).
However, she described candidate absenteeism as a little disappointing.
For CAPE, 9,974 candidates abstained from exams.
"These candidates would have been registered for examinations and would not have turned up. These candidates are ungraded. It's not something that CXC wants to see, and we are 100 per cent sure it's not something that the ministers of education or principals, teachers, and definitely not parents want to see."
She said having reviewed the 2022 period, the administration is encouraging electronic testing.
"One of the first things we did was extend our timetable by a week. Likewise, we extended our registration period by one week," Manning said.
"We aim to please, and if we have an issue, we aim to resolve it in an amicable way by ensuring that people are given the particular time to register. Unfortunately, 2023 did not pass by without a few issues."
She recalled a breach in CSEC Mathematics (paper two) on May 17, 2023. She also recalled a second breach in which some scripts and question papers were stolen on June 14 from a centre.
Manning added that the local registrars stepped in and supported the process "as they normally do" to manage the security of our papers.
On the leakage of the examination and distribution of CSEC Mathematics (paper two)in the digital space, Manning said 81,649 registered and only 76,836 sat the tests.
Manning added, "CXC immediately investigated and determined the source of the leak. The decision to use the modified approach was determined."
She shared some of the hardships faced in different territories, like flooding in TT, the deadly fire in Guyana, and Hurricanes in St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines that caused students to miss examinations.
All affected were allowed to sit the same examination on another date.
"These examinations would have been administered electronically, and none of the candidates would have been left behind. It is important to understand the need for the utilisation of electronic administration assessments."
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