Grade III CXC good to go

Government yesterday opened up the entry requirements for the Public Service, Teaching Service and all training agencies to enable more people to be qualified to work with these institutions. Education Minister, Hazel Manning, announced that with immediate effect all government agencies would now recognise Grade III as a CXC pass for recruitment and appointment within the Public Service, Manning stated yesterday.

The Education Minister also announced that the Cambridge GCE A’ level examination is to be replaced by the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE). She made a statement in the House of Representatives yesterday. Manning said the Cabinet agreed that the grades awarded in the new six-point grading scheme introduced from May 1998 at the CXC be accepted for recruitment and appointment in the general Public Service and the Teaching Service at primary level and for entry into all Government training institutions, including the technical and vocational training institutions.

Manning said the introduction of CAPE would take place on a phased basis starting with the training of teachers and Heads of Departments during July and August 2003. She said $182,590 would be provided in the 2004 Draft Estimates of Expenditure of the Ministry of Education to implement the phased introduction of CAPE. The Minister said CAPE syllabi are on par with the modular system of the Revised Cambridge Syllabus. CAPE qualifications are currently being accepted for exemptions in the Social Sciences and Education Departments of UWI, she noted. She added that the United Kingdom Academic Recogni-tion Information Centre — NARIC — “has indicated that it will be pleased to commend CAPE as a higher education entry qualification to United Kingdom higher education institutions.”

At this time all Caricom Member States — with the exception of the Cayman Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines — have introduced CAPE as the only Advanced Level examination and have been awarding scholarships based on the results of that examination, “which is recognised by regional and international institutions”. Manning said CAPE provides a unified system of certification in the Caribbean that is designed to encompass current arrangements in sixth forms and to link with programmes at community colleges and universities across the region. “The advantages of the phased implementation of CAPE is that it will empower students to use acquired knowledge to make effective responses to the challenge of individual and social development,” she stated.

She added: “Our participation in CAPE not only confirms the commitment of this Government to a regional system of examination. It affords our teachers who participated in the preparatory and developmental activity of CAPE to participate in the examination process as examiners and markers.” Manning explained that CAPE was introduced in the Caribbean in response to a mandate from Caricom Heads of Government at their meeting in Jamaica in 1997. The Ministers of Education had requested a Regional Examination that would be at least equivalent in standard to the Cambridge GCE A’level, but different from it in its philosophical assumption. “This year the Caribbean Examinations Council is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary and this is an opportune time to introduce the CAPE in our Secondary Schools,” Manning stated.