Amid calls for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to implement further relief measures to allay the apprehensions of students set to sit exit examinations in June, Education Minister Fayval Williams says the council has granted an extension for the submission of School-Based Assessments (SBAs).

According to Williams, after months of receiving letters and phone calls concerning the SBAs, the ministry petitioned the council for an extension in the submission deadlines and was successful.

Speaking during a virtual Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC)/Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) town hall on Thursday (April 29), the minister informed viewers that CXC, in its response to the ministry’s petition stated, that “at this stage given the challenges, CXC will facilitate a phased submission of SBAs”.

As per CXC’s advisory, “the submission deadline of June 18 will be retained for the research subjects, while submissions for the practical subjects be submitted on June 30th. No penalty will be attached to the extension”.

Despite this, Williams advised that “it would be imperative that there be a roll in submission of SBAs to CXC, that is, as soon as SBAs are completed for any given subject the submission must be made immediately by respective centers to avoid a bottleneck towards the deadline date of June 30th”.

Also reiterating the minister’s argument for early SBA submission, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer for CXC, Dr Wayne Wesley, said “that for those SBAs that are of a research nature and can be completed within the timeframe, we would encourage those once they are completed to be uploaded to help with the concern about all SBAs coming in at the same time”.

He added that the extension “will likely impact what will obtain as it relates to the final grades being prepared and released on time,” but “we are hoping to follow through with those SBAs that are completed early… so that we don’t all wait until June 30 and create a bottleneck that creates other logistical challenges”.