Ministry of Education reduces but upholds commitment to students taking CSEC exams

By Aaron Humes: Effective immediately, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, and Technology has announced that Government will only be paying for up to three Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations per student and not six as was the previous practice.

It is not clear whether this is a permanent decision or what caused it, though the likely culprit is financing issues caused by COVID-19.

This year’s deadline for signing up for CSEC examinations, sponsored by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), is next Wednesday, December 9.

In a memorandum written by CEO Dian Maheia to heads of high schools and ACE programs, the Ministry advised that students should only sign up, apart from the mandatory English A (Language) and Mathematics examinations, “for exams that they feel they would be fully prepared to sit.”

With passes of three exams which must include English A and Mathematics, students will automatically qualify for a CSEC Tuition Grant for tertiary level studies.

For those lucky to take and pass the examinations, the Ministry further announced that due to constraints the government will not be having any national award or recognition ceremony for CSEC top performers in 2021 as it has had in recent years.

The CXC was scheduled to brief reporters on decisions coming out of its 53rd annual Governance meetings this afternoon but has delayed that to Monday, December 7, at a time to be announced.

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