CAYMAN ISLANDS – The recent announcement by the Caribbean Examination Council that over 35,000 candidates failed to turn up for their CSEC and CAPE examination papers, more males than females, is no less than deeply disturbing. This was over one third of the 100,000 students who took the earlier exams.
No breakdown was provided per island but presumably this failure was spread equally across all participating islands. As expected, blame and shade was pushed in the direction of the missing students and presumably their struggling families.
No Accountability
As per usual in the Caribbean, those responsible fled from accountability including the examining body, the schools, the responsible ministry and of course, the great leaders of the Caribbean.
This is a giant crisis that requires immediate attention. Falling murder rates in the hundreds are nice but failing students are in the thousands.
Will there be a review with consequent solutions or is it to be another Cooper’s Pen in Jamaica.
It cannot be so long ago that many in the Caribbean could recall the layers of public examinations, pre-teen and teen, that drove fear into one’s heart in circumstances of limited resources, mediocre teachers and struggling schools. It was life changing and pivotal in making seeds grow into trees.
Silence is Golden
The silence of the Caribbean ministries and their leaders is a deafening, constant, regular occurrence. Wait for the spin press release but avoid holding your breath.
It is as if the power or wealth class are able to stuff down the poor and downtrodden without lifting a finger as governments feed into that paradigm by omissions to act. Less competition there.
Norman Manley, Eric Williams and Bustamante spinning, not turning in their grave.
The hospitality sector will be obliged by a new, annual train of workers from plantation to hotel via default vocational activities. This will be followed by those seeking employment for the limited opportunities in the music or cannabis industries.
No second chance for the hidden gems among a crowded field each year, never to find their true destiny.
Perhaps it is an easier choice with fewer critics among the workers or in society. More political blindness by the desperate masses consigned to follow those who are not leading.
When will it change and parents no longer have to suffer at the polling booth.
Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
