(Barbados Today) The two main teachers’ trade unions are banking on the expression of concern from UNICEF about this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) to push the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to reform the exams as they have been prescribing for more than a year.
The Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) on Tuesday noted that while Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw has recently been advocating for much-needed adjustments to the structure of this year’s exams, she has failed to attract the support of her regional counterparts.
Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) president Pedro Shepherd contends that with just days remaining before the planned sitting, it was simply a case of too little, too late to revive what is already a “lost” school year.
In a statement Monday, UNICEF’s top officials in Barbados, Belize, Jamaica and Guyana called for urgent interventions from regional Ministries of Education to ensure that students are not disadvantaged by seemingly rigid policies of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).
