Students can defer exams missed due to COVID-19
(CNS): Education officials at the Department of Education Services (DES) say that students who cannot sit scheduled Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations due to COVID-19 may defer them until the next sitting in January or in June 2023 without having to re-register but will not be able to take them in this exam cycle. Parents need to contact their schools as soon as possible to seek a deferral for an examination.
The DES said it was difficult to say how many students will be impacted as the situation is constantly changing. Year 11 students are currently on study leave and only a few requests for deferrals have been received so far. But according to the latest figures from Public Health, over 1,600 people are in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, and although the new case numbers are beginning to drop, the rolling seven-day average as of Friday was 90 cases.
“The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) allows candidates to sit exams that they previously missed due to illness or other unavoidable circumstances during the next sitting without the need for re-registration. I urge parents to utilise this provision where applicable,” DES Director Mark Ray said.
He added that the schools were “eager to facilitate this process” but that “candidates must notify schools of their intention to defer promptly to ensure that the process goes smoothly”.
Candidates who wish to defer exams must notify their school at least one day before the scheduled date. The school will then apply to CXC for the deferral on the candidate’s behalf. The DES noted that missed examinations cannot be issued at a later date during the same examination cycle because the content of the exam would have been already exposed to the students.
Other examining bodies, including Pearson, which offers General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams, allow candidates to withdraw without penalty up until the scheduled exam date.
To seek a deferral or withdraw from an examination, please contact the principal/director of your child’s school using the contact information below:
| School | Principal/Director | Telephone Number | |
| Clifton Hunter High | Richard Wildman | Richard.wildman@gov.ky | 936-0471 |
| John Gray High | Jon Clark | jclark@jghs.edu.ky | 938-8537 |
| Layman E Scott Snr High | Devon Bowen | dbowen@lshs.edu.ky | 926-3045 |
| Cayman Islands Further Education Centre (CIFEC) | Pedro Lazzari | PLazzari@cifec.edu.ky | 949 3285 |
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Category: Education, Local News
PLEASE allow parents/students to repeat a school year at any level, if requested.
They mostly leave central high school in Year 11 at age 15, and graduate at 16..far too Young!
Covid has resulted in 2 incomplete school years!
There is no summer school to make up for losses.
Social progression must end. If kids need time to catch up or to mature, then they should have it!
Also — Bring Year 12 and A Levels back into high schools. Brac kids have to relocate here to finish high school!!
Refine online learning since all kids now have laptops PLEASE allow parents/students to repeat a school year at any level, if requested.
They leave central high school in Year 11 and graduate at 16..far too Young!
Covid has resulted in incomplete years!
There is no summer school to make up for losses.
Social progression must end. If kids need time to catch up or to mature, then they should have it!
Also — Bring Year 12 and A Levels back into high schools. Brac kids have to relocate here to finish high school.
Publish the curriculum so parents can be proactive.
Please!! For God sake help these kids.
This is perfectly acceptable, indeed necessary.
Hmm, I wonder if there are some parents who will try to “game” the system by claiming their kids have covid, just to get another 6 or 12 months extra to “study” for their exams?
That would be stupid. They need their grades for Year 12 especially if they are doing the dual entry program.
No reason whatsoever for any students to be deferring exams because of Covid. None.
You expect children that have Covid to take exams? You have to be a troll.
Um, they should just add another date to take exams 3 weeks later…… that way anyone who has covid will have it before or after and have no excuse.
You really don’t know how this works. Read the article. It is explained in the article.
Yes, I do. Just like they are expected to sit them when they have a cold.
Covid isn’t a cold. My father had a cold as an old man with comorbidities. He didn’t die but lots of people are dying from Covid with the same simple illness as him: diabetes.
If absolutely necessary, this is understandable. The same extension courtesies we’re not extended to certain students after Hurricane Ivan.