Given the unprecedented times that have befallen Jamaican educators and students alike, Opposition Shadow Minister of Education and Training, Dr Angela Brown Burke is calling on the Government to lobby on behalf of CXC students for them to be allowed to defer all aspects of their Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams until January or June of 2022.

According to Brown Burke, her concern comes in light of complaints from students and teachers that, contrary to previous understandings, students who initially thought they would have the ability to defer from exams, are now being told that deferral is only allowed in the sitting of written exams and that Student Based Assessments (SBAs) must still be submitted this year.

In a press release today (April 8), Brown Burke argued that education in Jamaica has been significantly impacted by COVID-19.

Citing instances where “many of our students have missed half of the last school year, and almost all of this one” and some “students have not had in-person teaching since March 2020”, she said they had been put at a great disadvantage when compared to their peers from other Caribbean islands.

With this in mind, Brown Burke stated that “a request for deferral on this basis is not unreasonable, and a caring government should do all that’s within its power to negotiate favourable terms for its students with the CXC Board”.

With SBAs contributing as much as 40 per cent of the overall grade for most subjects, the Opposition is fearful that students may end up with automatic fails.

Jamaica has ‘leverage’

As Jamaica has the largest number of students sitting CXC examinations on a yearly basis, the Opposition believes that this provides “significant leverage for the Government to make effective representation on
behalf of our students”.

Brown Burke is therefore calling on the Ministry of Education to acknowledge that “our students have faced significant and unequal odds over the last several months, and are deserving of the Government’s full support to give them a fair shot at attaining the best CXC grades possible and a secure future”.