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– says Bishops’ old students
The Bishops’ High School Old Students’ Association (BHSOSA) has called on the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) to break its silence on the “glaring inconsistencies” noticed across the Region in its CSEC and CAPE results and to commit to an immediate, cost-free review of the results.
The Association added its voice to the matter on Thursday, joining scores of other concerned groups in the Caribbean which noticed that the results received by hundreds of candidates do to match the effort put out. Top performing schools in the Region have received scores of Grade Fives and Fours or even grades of “absent” when they were present for the exams.
In Guyana, BHSOSA had little to say but to demand that the Caribbean Examination Council fix the chaos that has been created. “It is our firm belief that these grades do not accurately reflect the true and fair performance of our students and therefore, we join the clarion call demanding that CXC issues a statement clearly addressing its evaluation methodology for the award of grades and commit to an immediate and thorough review of the results issued on September 22, 2020, with no cost attached,” said Kadeem Davis, President, BHSOSA in letter to the media.
The Caribbean Examinations Council recently responded to questions surrounding the results of the July/August 2020 Examinations by pointing candidates to a “long-established process” to address the questions they may have. A review will cost each candidate USD$30 which may result in their overall Grade either increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same. If the review increases their overall grade, they will be refunded the review fee. However, BHSOSA said that the challenges faced are not the fault of the candidates and they should not be made to pay for it mentally or physically.
The Association reminded the Council that concerns about the evaluation methodology were expressed prior to the hosting of the examinations and calls were made for the exams to remain credible. The Association said that students’ concern for the weighting of the examinations and School Based Assessments (SBA) were also expressed with no clear explanation given by CXC.
“It was demanded of CXC that the integrity of these examinations be maintained. Today, these concerns have now earned merit,” BHSOSA lamented. While calling on the Council to fix its mistakes, the Association also called on Guyana’s Ministry of Education to actively pursue an investigative process into the results immediately.
BHSOSA said: “Our students deserve to be proud of their efforts and their investment. The Bishops’ High School Old Students’ Association lends its unequivocal support to our student body and to our fellow colleagues who are also duly affected.”
