Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Education Daryll Matthew (file photo)
By Latrishka Thomas
Minister of Education Daryll Matthew has voiced his displeasure with the Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) handling of issues impacting the region.
“CXC really has not been dealing with its stakeholders properly,” Matthew commented in response to a statement from the CXC about its plan to meet with Ministries of Education on June 4, regarding the decision to suspend certain subjects.
“I have to admit, I was very disturbed and a little bit stunned when I read the press release coming out from the CXC indicating that they’ll be meeting with Ministers of Education next week. You know, I felt that it would have been much more appropriate to meet with the Ministers and other stakeholders before taking a decision to withdraw the offering of some of the subjects that they indicated a few weeks ago,” Matthew stated.
His comment was made following the release of CXC’s press statement, which announced the suspension of syllabuses for Green Engineering, Agricultural Science (double award), Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical and Electronic Engineering due to low enrolment rates.
Matthew reiterated his opposition to this decision, saying: “A lot of our Caribbean countries, particularly our OECS countries, have a renewed thrust in the areas of Agricultural Science or food security, of course, and some of the technical areas. And it really epitomises how I would word the contempt that CXC has been dealing with some of these smaller jurisdictions.
“It simply cannot be right that an institution that a few months ago has been lobbying for an increase in fees from these same governments has unilaterally taken a decision to withdraw subjects without discussion with the same governments that you’re asking to agree to increase fees.”
The CXC’s recent statement acknowledged stakeholders’ concerns and mentioned that “in order to address the matter, CXC has scheduled a meeting with the Ministers of Education”.
However, according to Matthew, “this consultation was not initiated by CXC. It is the Ministers of Education of the OECS who initiated this, who demanded this meeting, which has now become a Caricom-wide meeting.”
CXC said that the outcome of the meeting will be shared with the public.
