GIS (DOMINICA) - The Director-General of the OECS, Dr. Didacus Jules is calling on all member states to adopt the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment or CPA.
The assessment will allow students entering secondary school to move from one member state to the other with ease.
“Let us say,” he says, “there is a child of Common Entrance age who sat the exams in Dominica and [the child] relocates to Antigua or St. Lucia. What happens to that child in terms of access to secondary school?”
He continued, “One of the things we did at CXC was set up a Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment which replaces the Common Entrance and which should be like a Caribbean-wide Common Entrance exam.”
The Director-General who is also a past CXC Registrar says the exam does not place as much pressure on the students as the Common Entrance exams did.
He says the exam is one that will allow real integration of OECS member states.
“There is much better performance because it is not a one shot exam. The students develop a portfolio the year preceding the exam and there is a lot of practice. What they present in the exam room is not just the performance on the exam itself but their performance in class in the year preceding the exam.”
The Director-General says the exams are being used in other member states like Grenada with great success.
“[When] you relocate with your child, if he has sat the CPA, they don’t have to give him another exam to determine his competence level and how he compares with other children [in other member states]. The exam is comparable across the region,” Dr. Jules explained.