CXC makes accommodations for Jamaican students affected by Hurricane Melissa

 

 

 

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has announced the accommodations that will be made for Jamaican students who have been negatively affected by Hurricane Melissa for the May-June sitting of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

 

The final adjustments were disclosed on Wednesday at a CXC press conference.

 

CXC Registrar Dr. Wayne Wesley said due to the devastation and dislocation caused by the hurricane, the Council of CXC has approved an agreed plan of action with the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information in Jamaica. 

 

Dr. Wesley said the examinations will be administered in their normal formats for all schools, while those negatively affected by the hurricane will be offered the flexibility of using the Modified Approach, aspects of which were previously announced by the Education Ministry.

 

"Modifications and adjustments will be facilitated for Jamaican-based candidates with respect to school-based assessments. Secondly, late registration has been accommodated for candidates from schools negatively affected without any late fee requirements. Thirdly, CXC will extend the timeline for submission of SBAs for schools negatively impacted to June 15, 2026 without any late fee requirements. Then, all candidates based in Jamaica will receive their results in August 2026 with the rest of the region. In other words, there will be no delay," Dr. Wesley revealed.

 

Additionally, where candidates register and pay for their examinations but no longer feel ready to sit the examinations, they can seek a refund or defer to another session in 2027.

 

CXC's Director of Operations in Examinations Services, Dr. Nicole Manning, said schools in Manchester, St. Elizabeth, Hanover, Westmoreland, Trelawny, St. Ann and St. James will be offered the flexibility of the Modified Approach in the assessments.

 

Dr. Manning noted that the schools in these seven parishes will have until next week Wednesday to indicate which of the formats they will be utilising.

 

"We will work with our local registrar to ensure that we can identify these schools and we will manage accordingly.... The submissions from the schools will be required by January 14th. So by January 14th, we will know the schools who will be doing the full normal assessment versus the Modified Approach. Along with that, it was identified by the ministry that you do have special cases, very special cases outside of those seven parishes where students and schools may have had some devastation, and CXC will take that into consideration and offer, provide that provision in terms of the facilitation of the use of the modified approach," she explained.

 

The Ministry of Education has said learning loss among the external examination cohort can be mitigated if teachers and principals adhere to the curriculum guidelines.

 

Chief Education Officer Terry-Ann Thomas-Gayle said the Ministry of Education conducted a recent assessment of syllabus coverage in high schools, with most of them reporting "60 to 70 per cent of syllabus coverage being done". 

 

"And so our curriculum team, guided by, of course, the Caribbean Examinations Council, will be looking at how it is to ensure that the coverage of the syllabus is completed," she disclosed.