The Guyana Government does not support the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) unofficial decision to discontinue several technical and vocational subjects from its the syllabus and will be making this point at an upcoming regional meeting.
CXC, a few days ago, issued a memo informing that it will be suspending four subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam, (CAPE) levels.
CXC had stated that this decision was taken following continued low enrolment by students across the region and it was intended for this to take effect in September 2025.
The subjects are Mechanical Engineering, Agricultural Science – Double Award, Green Engineering as well as Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Technology.
The unilateral announcement by CXC, however, attracted backlash from stakeholders across the Caribbean.
The body has now scheduled a meeting with Heads of Education Ministries across the Caribbean to discuss the situation.
That meeting is slated to take place on June 4.
Guyana’s Minister of Education Priya Manickchand will be in attendance and she intends to object against this move by CXC.
“Guyana is one of the driving forces behind the meeting because we have had grave concerns about what appeared to be an announcement that CXC is now saying was a premature release, withdrawing some subjects from our schools from the options our children have. So, yes, we will be participating.”
“We have an objection to that because we believe the continuation of these subjects… would benefit the children and people of Guyana because of the trajectory our country is heading in.”
Minister Manickchand emphasised that Guyana cannot afford to drop technical and vocational subjects considering the rapid growth of the economy, especially in the oil and gas and agriculture industries.
“Guyana cannot afford to drop these subjects now, and we don’t intend to, and we intend to make that very clear to the Caribbean Examinations Council.”
A statement issued by CXC on Wednesday outlined that it is aware of the concerns expressed by stakeholders following the announcement.
In fact, CXC said that announcement was premature and the situation is regrettable.
