The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) will phase out certain subjects from the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), but this change will not impact students in Antigua and Barbuda.
CXC Registrar Myrick Smith reassured that while Jamaica is experiencing backlash, the affected subjects—Agricultural Science (double award), Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Technology, and Green Engineering—have seen low student enrollment. This trend has led to the decision.
The suspension starts in September 2024. However, CXC is open to making exceptions for territories that wish to continue offering these subjects, provided they cover the full costs and meet minimum enrollment requirements.
In Jamaica, education authorities are demanding a clear plan from CXC and the Ministry of Education.
They seek alternative subjects, measures to support affected students and teachers, and clarification on the focus on STEM subjects.
Additionally, they want assurances regarding the transformation of education initiatives and secure tenure for teachers in the impacted subjects.
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I pray this is never implemented in Antigua for where would have ended up in life without Agricultural Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical and Electronic Engineering? I shudder to think of it, but I fear it is only a matter of time.
STEM serves a purpose, and no man is an island, but I personally know too many Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, Engineers, Bankers and IT professionals who cannot repair or maintain the property they own or the automobile they drive, and being self-sufficient does not equate to having many letters of the alphabet after your surname and earning a high income in order to depend on someone else to fix your problems, that is dependency and we are creating a generation of useless dependent people that will not be able to function without a computer. Honesty is fleeting and we should never forget what the three first letters in CONtractor spell and I know for a fact many have been and will continue to be conned out of their high income.
Of course Smith is going to say this! This is the same person who told Antigua and Barbuda that the Mathematics problem is not at the Primary level because the average(a very deceptive concept at times) GSNA is 75%, when students don’t know their tables and require calculators to do basic addition and subtraction.
The fact is, we continue to push academics when a large percentage of the students today are not academic.
Education needs an overhaul and those in authority are clueless, including Smith.
@ Watching you’re ridiculous to say or imply that our students aren’t academic. If you want to revert back to the slave years please just say so. Education is the key, but also logic plays a crucial role in it. The government is broke and in debt, make it make sense unless you’re trying to find the program
I wear that there are some real idiots running CXC. What does student enrollment have to do with whether or not Agriculture and MET are essential subjects in the region? If 20 people take the subjects it has no effect on CXC. They are simply disenfranchising students because they can.
I swear that there are some real idiots running CXC. What does student enrollment have to do with whether or not Agriculture and MET are essential subjects in the region? If 20 people take the subjects it has no effect on CXC. They are simply disenfranchising students because they can.
Yes a lot of students are not academic absolutely truth. So that is where skills comes in. Teach children the skills they will need to go through life if they are not strong at the academic level. Education needs an overhaul indeed. I endorse your comment.
It’s a sad day more so for the student and teachers. For students who are more geared in these subject areas, what are they going to do? For the teachers on the other hand who were trained and have qualifications in these subject areas what are going to do SMH. The powers that be should put some forward planning into action for both students and teachers.
I think I pass all my subjects without a benefit of a doubt.
CXC is all about making money and this proves it. They do not care for, not do they cater for the needs of our Caribbean students.
The education system overall is a mess…. Even private schools are deciding that after 5 years of paying school fees that students are unfit to write the subjects deemed necessary for the next level in their journey. Make it make sense. Schools are competing against each other at the expense of the students…. When you deny the students the opportunity to attempt their CXC subjects, do you think of the long term consequences on the communities and by extension the economy? Some schools here in Antigua and Barbuda will only consider students who are academically sound or bright. What about the slow ones? Who will teach then? What about the ones with no interest in POB, POA etc.?
Think about it, the boys who will be the men of tomorrow have little to no opportunity to be great yet they have been trusted from birth to provide and protect our daughters. How? When? I say in this region if education is the key, then schools must be the lock! CXC will always get their way because the people in authority to speak for us are too weak to speak up.
@ Oswald Francis, do you have compression issues, sir? I said “a high percentage,” of our students, not all. We have been pushing education for decades, how far are we today from slavery? Students educate themselves as you suggest then what? Every year we pump hundreds of students out of secondary school and they can’t find jobs for years. It took my daughter 3 years with 7 CXC subjects including Maths and distinction in English and others. Education is the key to what?
Wake up. Our country is inundated with doctors and lawyers. Way too many for our small population. My brother is a lawyer who migrated because he was struggling here.
We now need to balance academics with technical skills. Guess you couldn’t see that?
Done away with CXC!…it’s a money making agency!
Every country hv their own state Examinations.
This is a backwards step. This current regime does not value the struggles, sacrifices and hard work put into perfecting the syllabus of those subjects. No consideration is allowed as to the hard work of teachers and students have put together to step up study materials for those subjects.
Some schools invested lots of resources into making those subjects possible for their children.
Teachers had to improve their qualifications to be able to teach the syllabus to students.
CXC also spent resources to get teachers acquainted with the needs of the syllabus. Set up the relevant machinery for smooth running of the syllabus and examinations.
These factors are now lost and have become useless.
Syllabus designed to suit the needs of the Caribbean have now been rendered useless.
If the government of each territory decides to formulate system for examinations in their home territory, like CXC did many years ago, CXC will find itself being IRRELEVANT.
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