BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Tues. May 25, 2021– For the second consecutive year, students across the Caribbean are preparing to sit the CAPE and CSEC examinations under conditions that have been altered to comply with the restrictions and regulations of COVID-19 protocol. On Tuesday, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) held a virtual Special Meeting with regional governments and other stakeholders to discuss recommendations that were presented by the CXC’s School Examination Committee (SEC) as part of the council’s strategy for the administering of the 2021 exams.
The recommendations were formulated at CARICOM’s Council of Human and Social Development’s (COHSOD) 28th Special Session, which was held on May 12, 2020, and outline three action points to be enacted within the coming months. Following the meeting, a statement was published to highlight those action points as well as the topics that were discussed during the forum.
Firstly, the 2021 strategy includes a return by the council to the delivery of the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), and the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSL) examinations in their original format, unlike what took place in 2020 in the initial stages of the pandemic. This will involve the issuance of papers 01, 02 and 031 (SBA’s) or paper 032 (for private candidates) for CAPE and CSEC, and papers 01 and 02 for the CCSL exams.
Further, the council has decided to delay the sitting of these regional exams by two weeks to provide students with additional preparation time. As a result, the new commencement date for examinations is Monday, June 28, 2021. Thus the period during which the CAPE/ CSEC exams will be administered will now be June 28, 2021 – July 30, 2021, and the results will be published between the last week of September and the first week of October. Students will also be granted an extension on deadlines for the submissions of SBA’s for CAPE AND CSEC exams. That deadline date is now June 30, 2021.
During the Special Meeting, stakeholders also discussed the concessions previously put in place by the council due to the psychological effects that the pandemic may have on students’ academic performance. As a result, the council has introduced “a new level of flexibility for the delayed conduct of on-site moderation” with a deadline now set for July 31, 2021.
Other concessions include a reduction in SBA requirements by as much as fifty percent in some subjects; an extension for SBA submissions by six weeks; the release of Broad Topics on Monday, May 10, 2021; an option for candidates to defer the sitting of exams until either January or June 2022; an extension period within which to indicate a deferral, which should be done no later than May 31, 2021; and finally, an extension for the submissions of
SBA’s until January 2022 for students opting to defer.
The council also noted that they are currently working with representatives from the Ministry of Education of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to give consideration to students of that island following the eruption of the La Soufriere Volcano that occurred in April.