Garcia: Blame CXC, not me

“The problems associated with the late release of results, those problems do not reside with the Minister of Education. It is not the fault of the Ministry of Education.

The fault rests directly on the shoulders of CXC.” The results were released online yesterday though some students were still having difficulty accessing their results. Garcia said he was informed yesterday by Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan that the CXC internet portal had been opened–no specific time was given–and the students could access their results.

“However while I am in my constituency office in Arima I am still getting calls and concerns from students and parents that they not seeing results online,” he added.

He said he would have to deal with those specific issues from his office tomorrow.

Sunday Newsday saw posts by students and parents who had accessed their results but there were also calls to the media by parents complaining about the results still not being available.

Garcia said the results were scheduled to have been made available on August 9 and he was unhappy over the delay which had caused students “unnecessary stress.” After the initial delay the results were supposed to have been made available online on Friday from 10 pm but this deadline was also missed.

“Today (yesterday) is 19th August and some students still having difficulty.” Garcia said he was dissatisfied with the late release which was unfair to students and many were anxious with respect to acceptance to colleges and universities.

The minister pointed out that the deadline date for some foreign universities was Friday and students not being able to access results “put them in a quandary.” He said he and his ministry were being blamed for the delay on social media but reiterated that it was the fault of CXC. He said there was still no information from CXC on the cause of the delay.

He also said a number of principals contacted him expressing their dissatisfaction with the way CXC has been operating, both in this case and on previous occasions.

Garcia said he scheduled a meeting with secondary school principals this week to discuss some of the concerns the schools had been having with CXC.

“In many instances it is unsatisfactory,” he added.

He said following that meeting he would decide the next step.

He also said he wanted to ensure the integrity of the examination was kept and the confidence the population had in CXC was maintained. “I respect CXC as a regional institution administering a regional examination.” CXC Assistant Registrar Cleveland Sam asked that queries be sent via email and told Sunday Newsday yesterday in a telephone interview they would be forwarded to the CXC director of operations.

Principals at secondary schools in San Fernando said they had to depend on students to inform them about the outcome of the results.

Naparima Girls High School principal Carolyn Bally Gosine told Sunday Newsday she had been trying to access the CXC results since Wednesday. “I am sitting behind the computer still awaiting the results to download and it simply wouldn’t,” she said.

Bally Gosine said several students contacted her to report their outstanding performance but she could not do an assessment until she received all the results.

It was a similar situation at Naparima Boys College where principal Dr Michael Dowlath also said he was unable to access the results online and received reports from students about their results.

(reporting by Denisha Simeon Nylo Intern)