High School curriculum to change for C.X.C. exams in 2007

Next month high school students across the country will be sitting the annual Caribbean Examinations but by next year, secondary schools will be making new additions to its curriculum. The effort is part of a regional initiative and in preparation, secondary school principals met this week with representatives of the Caribbean Examinations Council for an official introduction to the new materials. Before you start to panic, we understand that students will not need additional texts. The idea is to have first, second and third form take tests at the end of every year to determine how well students are mastering certain skills. Deputy Chief Education Officer Alan Genitty explains.

Alan Genitty, Deputy Chief Education Officer
?We all know that everybody keeps on saying that the system, not just in Belize, but in the region, and maybe even in some of the more developed countries we are saying that our children are not thinking critically, they are not problem solving well enough, you know, they are not controlling their emotions, they are not dealing with conflicts, they are not independent learners for life long learning and things like that. These are cross cutting themes throughout the curriculum, the new secondary curriculum and if we can obviously work it the way it is planned, we should have better students coming out of our system.?

Dr. Lucy Steward, Registrar, Caribbean Examinations Council
?We?re hearing that, for example, in some countries for some subjects as many as sixty percent or fifty percent of the students take the examinations are the end of the secondary cycle and do not get satisfactory grades. Now, what we are saying, is that this should close that gap, so that if you have done this examination it should motivate the students, because they would achieve success, they would have gotten a good foundation, so it would encourage them to go on and close that gap. But we are also catering to those who may not go on, and who will drop out and will need some certification so that they can show that look I have completed these, and mastered these competencies.?

Belize is part of a sixteen country tour currently underway by the Caribbean Examinations Council delegation.