Belize to host CXC governance meetings

Published on November 26, 2015, BRIDGETOWN, Barbados.- Belize, the only Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) participating country in Central America, will host the 2015 annual governance meetings of CXC. The CXC governance meetings are held annually in one of the CXC participating countries. Belize last hosted a CXC governance meeting in 1993.

The meeting of the School Examinations Committee, (SEC) will be held on Thursday 3 December 2015 and the 47th Meeting of the Council will be held on Friday 4 December at the Radisson Hotel. SEC deals with examinations and technical issues, while Council deals with administrative, staff and financial matters.

The Council meeting will be officially opened with a formal ceremony on Thursday 3 December in Belize City. During the opening ceremony, nine CAPE awardees and eight CSEC awardees from Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago will be presented with the regional top awards.

Patrick Faber, minister of education, youth, sports and culture will deliver the feature address at the ceremony. Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, chairman of CXC and Glenroy Cumberbatch, CXC registrar will also speak at the event. Brandon Judnarine, the most outstanding candidate overall in the May/June CSEC examinations will speak on behalf of the awardees.

This year Cecil Cox, a student of Queen’s College in Guyana, will become the first CSEC regional top awardee to receive a CAPE regional top award. He will receive the Dennis Irvine Award for Most Outstanding performance in the May/June 2015 CAPE sitting. In 2013 he received the CSEC regional top award for Most Outstanding Performance in Sciences.

It will also be a first for Antigua and Barbuda, as Brandon Judnarine of St Joseph Academy will become the first student from a school in Antigua and Barbuda to win a regional top award.

The ceremony will be punctuated by performances from Yorkers Dance Group and the National Youth Orchestra of Belize. In addition, guests at the ceremony will be treated to a Belizean cultural showcase following the official ceremony.

The awardees will pay courtesy calls on Sir Colville Young, governor general of Belize; Dean Barrow, prime minister; Patrick Faber, minister of education, youth, sports and culture; and leader of the opposition Francis Fonseca.

The awardees will also visit historical sites in Belize including Xunantunich Maya Archaeological Site, and Old Belize Museum; and interact with students from schools in Belize. These activities will give the awardees an opportunity to interact with students from the host country and gain a better understanding Belizean history and culture.

One of the objectives of the regional top awards programme is to promote regional integration and build life-long relationships among the awardees and students in the host country.

A team from CXC will meet with principals and teachers on Wednesday 2 December. The meeting is part of CXC’s stakeholder engagement programme, which gives stakeholders an opportunity to interact directly with CXC on a broad range of issues and to make recommendations to CXC.

The CXC governance meetings are held annually in one of the CXC participating countries. Last year, the governance meetings and associated activities were held in Jamaica.