Education Minister says he is shocked by the decision of CXC

By Aabigayle McIntosh

Education Minister Daryll Mathew said the time has come for himself and colleague ministers across the region to have an open and frank discussion with the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC).

His comments follow the decision by the examination body to attempt to suspend the syllabi for four technical subjects.

Minister Mathew told the local media he was shocked and surprise by the decision which was taken without prior consultation.

“I want to encourage the management of the Caribbean Examination’s Council to recognize your stakeholders are the persons who make you who you are and gives you relevance and sidelining your stakeholders, disrespecting your stakeholders cannot be a sensible way within which to operate,” Mathew said.

“I believe it is a percent of arrogance and disrespect that decision like this could have been taken without consulting your major stakeholder and using the reason of low enrollment suggest you are operating as a business and not as a service to our Caribbean people,” he added.

CXC announced that it will no longer be awarding certification for Green Engineering, Agricultural Science (double award), Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Electronic Engineering, due to low enrolment.

There has been anxiety among key stakeholder groups, including in Jamaica, since the premature release of correspondence that was addressed to the education ministers.

The CXC said the public will be updated on the outcome of a meeting, scheduled for June 4 at 10 a.m.

“CXC has taken a very high handed approach, an unfortunate approach in dealing with a matter like this particularly at a time when CXC is asking for an increase in the fees,” the minister noted.

He also added that the decision is coming at a time when governments around the region are investing more in technical subject offerings.

“We in Antigua and Barbuda are investing heavily in the Harrison Centre School of Continuing Education. We have announced recently that the former building housing the Bethesda Primary school will be transformed into a technical college specializing in Agriculture Science. It’s not an issue of how many persons are enrolled today, it is what the options are for persons who will be enrolling based on our national development trajectory,” the minister said.