Statement re apparent Maths CSEC exam breach referenced by CXC 17th May

EDITOR: With respect to this very regrettable apparent Maths CSEC exam breach referenced by CXC yesterday, it is still very early and CXC has advised that their official investigation is underway, so we await their further prompt public communication.

We acknowledge the complexities of our ‘education eco-system’: multi-jurisdictional and multi-institutional administration of CXC exams, which may increase the potential risk of security breach relating to exam paper access. The additional challenges of ease and swiftness of electronic circulation via social media etc further compounds this complexity.

However: there are disturbing reports that the CXC CSEC maths exam questions were In circulation on tiktok and other social media at least the night before and morning of the exam!
This shocking news, of the apparent exam security breach, if true, is deeply demoralising and destabilising to our children and teachers, particularly while the already stressful high-stakes CXC exams are currently underway.

These children and their teachers have worked so hard in the pandemic environment . Many children are emotionally fragile due to the pandemic stressors.

The students have a deep fear that they may be asked to resit the exam; already, a regional petition against exam resit has garnered 16,000 signatures.

This apparent security breach news is deeply damaging to the credibility and reputation of our regional school exit exam process, and further erodes public trust, especially as there have been several confirmed exam leaks in recent years, including exam resit in 2008. We remind the public of the 2020 exam fiasco, the largely superficial pandemic accommodations 2021 and 2022, and the e-testing fiasco and last minute delay of exams in 2022. These constant challenges only damage our children’s mental health and public trust.

As we await the official communication, the children anxiously, we hope the communication’s focus avoids the ‘blame game’ of finger pointing, and will focus instead on what went wrong, yet again, with the exam security and its chain of custody.

We l, the tax-paying public, expect and deserve a remedy which has fairness for our children at its core.

Fairness for our precious children is not too much to ask.

Paula-Anne Moore
Parent Advocate
Spokesperson/Coordinator
The Group of Concerned Parents, Barbados

The Caribbean Coalition for Exam Redress

Khaleel Kothdiwala
Student Advocate and Liaison
The Group of Concerned Parents, Barbados
The Caribbean Coalition for Exam Redress