Updated: CSEC, CAPE exams shifted from general election date to mid-June

Last Updated on Monday, 26 January 2015, 16:00 by GxMedia

Caribbean examinations set for general election day – May 11, 2015- and May 12, 2015 have been shifted to June 15 and June 16, 2015 to guarantee the integrity of the papers and ensure that proper logistics are in place because many schools are examination centers, officials said.

“The entire decision-making process was attended to by our paramount consideration being what will be in the best interest of the candidates,” said Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.  She defended the decision by President Donald Ramotar to call elections during the period of CXC exams, saying that based on advice from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), including the validity of the voters list, all available dates would have clashed with the exams. “All the dates that were given to His Excellency the President and his advisors were in the CXC period so it was inevitable that we would face this slight hurdle which we believe we have crossed effectively,” she said.

Manickchand said factors that influenced the change in the exam dates were availability of space to write the examinations “given that schools are designated polling places and some other logistical arrangements that could have affected our children.”  The Minister of Education brushed aside suggestions that security during and after polling day was a major reason for changing the dates. “We were not overly concerned because of security reasons because we expect mature behavior that would not see us having security concerns,” she said. GECOM has already identified many public schools across Guyana to be polling stations.

When asked by Caribbean News Desk, Registrar of the Barbados-based Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Glenroy Cumberbatch said that the cost of the new exam papers would be calculated and the bill sent to the Guyana government for payment. “Our principal concern was to ensure that these candidates or these students who registered to write the Caribbean Examinations Council’s suite of qualifications that they had the opportunity to write them in the conditions that they would normally write from day-to-day,” he added.

Cumberbatch echoed Manickchand by pointing out that CXC was not happy with the schools, which are examination centres, would be used as polling stations on the same day. “If the schools are to be used as polling stations it meant it was not possible to have the two activities competing for the same space at the same time and therefore it was necessary to ensure that the candidates are not disadvantaged in any way on that given day,” said the Registrar.

Another reason for changing the dates, he said, was to ensure that the security and integrity of the examination papers would remain intact. “We want to be sure that the papers are kept intact for movement to the centres and away from the centres in a manner that would not present itself in any leakage of papers or any other things as such,” he said.

He said that the papers for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) for Guyana would be different but on par with those that would be written by candidates across the region.

The exam results would available at the same time with the rest of the Caribbean as if they had been written on May 11, 2015.

The amended schedule is:
CARIBBEAN SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE

CARIBBEAN ADVANCE PROFICIENCY EXAMINATION