St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—Following a successful pilot programme across several member states in mathematics, the Caribbean Examinations Council, CXC, on Tuesday (August 18, 2026), officially launched the Caribbean Targeted Education Certificate, or CTEC.
The launch comes as results from the May and June sitting are now available, with officials at the regional examination body celebrating pass rates of more than 80% during the pilot programme.
CXC’s registrar, Dr Wayne Wesley, provided an overview of the initiative, which was launched 16 months ago.
“16 months ago, CXC announced to the region the piloting of an initiative to address the perennial underperformance of our students in certain subjects, especially in mathematics, called the Caribbean Targeted Education Certificate, better known as CTEC. I describe CTEC as a game changer, and I promise then that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the Caribbean Examinations Council as we know it. Today, we keep that promise, and we make history in Anguilla by announcing that the achievement of the highly successful CTEC pilot in mathematics in the May-June 2026 examinations, with the approval of our board of governors, CXC is pleased to officially launch the Caribbean Targeted Education Certificate, CTEC. CTEC takes the subjects you know- the same syllabus, the same standard, the same rigorous standard- and breaks them down into focus modules that students can master, be assessed on and be certified for step by step. In other words, CTEC is fit, focused, individualised learning.”
CTEC is being described as a targeted framework in which every completed module represents a credential earned, one that is recognised, portable, and can build towards a wider qualification.
The initiative is also designed to keep pace with the changing learning environment and the needs of a younger, increasingly digitally savvy generation.
“They have the ability now, or they will leave with evidence of the competence and an open door back into the system to continue and to complete their education. At CXC, we hold to the position that competence is competence, no matter how long it takes to achieve, and no matter how the route, sorry, and no matter the route by which it comes. This is how things and times have changed. This is how we have to meet this generation of learners where they are. Our Gen Z learners and our Generation Alpha behind them live in a world of on-demand learning. They master complex skills in structured stages every day on their own screens and on their own schedules. Our children are not less capable than those who came before them. They are differently wired, digital first, and hungry for credentials that keep pace with their lives.”
Wesley says CTEC represents a redesign of assessment for learners, but stressed that the changes do not come at the expense of the standards maintained by CXC.
“When we are designing CTEC, we ask ourselves, would the region embrace it? Today, we have proof of concept from a region that has overwhelmingly accepted CTEC. When we invited the region to pilot CTEC Mathematics Module 1, more than 2,500 candidates stepped forward as pioneers across 15 territories and 42 centres from Jamaica to Belize, from Barbados to the Cayman Islands, and yes, here in Anguilla, which was among the first countries to sign on to the pilot. Principals told us that their students were excited about the pilot examinations. We went into the field ourselves and spoke with some of these students, and we were pleased with their responses. And so, for CTEC Mathematics, we have observed that parents have taken a keen interest. Teachers have embraced this modularised examination format. In the May-June session, 2,535 candidates wrote the Module 1 examination alongside those sitting the full CTEC examinations. I am pleased indeed, and I am proud to announce that of these 2,535 candidates who wrote CTEC Module 1 in the Mathematics pilot examination, 88% achieved acceptable grades.”
The CXC Registrar also used the occasion to emphasise the importance of keeping young people engaged in education.
“We must help learners across the Caribbean to believe in themselves, especially in subjects that too many have come to fear. We must encourage them to stop saying they cannot pass mathematics and to start believing that with the right guidance and support, they can. Students, for years in mathematics, the subject that is foundational to every vocation in life, only about a third of our candidates have achieved acceptable grades in a typical sitting. Behind that statistic are hundreds of thousands of young people who sat in our classrooms for five years and walked away with nothing in hand to show or what they did learn. Not because they learned nothing, but because our instrument of assessment was an all-or-nothing event. One subject, one sitting, one verdict.”
Wesley noted that for more than half a century, CXC has served as the custodian of the region’s currency of educational achievement.
“When our founders took the bold step of replacing overseas examinations with our own, they made a declaration of intellectual sovereignty and cultural identity. We declare to all who would hear, and the Caribbean could set, that the Caribbean could set its own standard and that that standard would be world-class.”
Students seeking their results can access them through the CXC portal.
