By Shanna Moore
The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has revealed a concerning rise in exam irregularities, driven by the increased use of smartphones and smartwatches to cheat during the May/June 2024 exam period.
Speaking at the official release ceremony for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results in Roseau, Dominica, Dr Nicole Manning, the director of operations for CXC’s Examination Services Division, reported that examiners had encountered a disturbing spike in cheating incidents.
Some 50 instances of candidates caught using cell phones during exams were reported compared to 36 last year—a jump that the CXC official described as concerning.
One particularly troubling incident involved a candidate who admitted to doing an online search during the exam, while another case saw the resurgence of impersonation, where individuals attempted to take exams on behalf of others.
“One candidate said they were googling the question . . . we are not just making this up,” she said. “Candidates have to sign and agree to what happened.”
The penalties for such offences are severe, with candidates facing disqualification and a two-year ban from sitting any CXC exams.
“You also have unauthorised materials where candidates try to take paper [with information] in and they are caught . . . and sometimes candidates share information [with each other],” the official said.
Dr Manning also noted that the rise in irregularities correlates with reports of increased absenteeism, with students citing a lack of preparation as the reason for either skipping exams or attempting to cheat.
The director emphasised that the council is committed to investigating the root causes of these irregularities and working with educational stakeholders to find solutions. She called for a collective effort to reinforce the values of ethics and integrity among
students.
Like a wise man once said “If you fail to cheat you will repeat.” Lol
“SIMON SAYS” – This is not surprising. It is no longer raising children and playing “Simon Says”. It now “Children Says”. Children are raised to be dependent on Technology, Gadgets, Social Platforms, AI Software , Apps and Fast Foods and as such they do not learn to think for themselves or use their natural abilities, thinking or skills. Children are raised going to the Refrigerators, Supermarkets, Fast Foods for food and Gadgets for information. Unfortunately no longer are children raised going to the Garden for food and fruits, neither are taught to go to Libraries, Elders, Churches and communities for information and teachings. Another concern is that the Education System is so competitive that children try to attain success by any means necessary. The world of work don’t make the situation any better because of extreme requirement of qualifications from job seekers. In the past one would require the options of having qualifications or the equivalent of a number of years of experience. Such option would be able to provide motivation for individuals who don’t perform well at Common Entrance or CXCs. The Private Sector and the Public Service are also culprits in demanding strictly qualifications as if experiences is an obsolete factor. An Individual may not be academically strong but may be skilled and more experience than someone with qualifications. The world is becoming too complicated with the request and requirements for school and work against the equation of simplicity of life needs. “Simon Says ” – It’s so sad.
I wrote CSEC at the Bean Field Secondary School, and all what they just saw in the report I saw for myself. But no one spoke about it, so I just left it as I saw it. There was a young man setting exams, that had he’s phone in both Maths and English,and each time he removing it from he’s pocket for him to write, n putting it back. Then he opened the back of the phone and removed a piece of paper, wrote on the exam paper, and places the paper back in the case of he’s phone. Them people know everything they doing. smh.
I want to know where I using ‘ find the value of X” in my daily living
Long story short, you bend the rule to accommodate technologies into class room. Students are given laptops and allowed smart phones into the classroom why the need for teachers when YouTube is there. This is why you have so many unwarranted things are happening. Be careful of what your permit it is destine to com back and haunt you dangerously.
Well the signs of the times “today’s youth”. I don’t think they use notebooks anymore heavily like when I was going to school the laptop and I phone is the new norm…….I remember when my mother this time of the year use to go the tailor on Garvy Street to pick my uniform and then go by S&S to buy pencils and exercise books and text books, these days if you have young children you better have that laptop money set aside, so glad I am past that.
A reflection of the level of dishonesty in the home, community, and society 😔
@Anonymous #1 where do you use “find the value of X”? When you wake up late for work and trying to figure out whether you going to skip breakfast or the take a shorter shower, how much time does that leave you to make it to work on time. When you go to Courts and you see 25% off, what is the dollar value of that 25%. When the pharmacist tells you take 1 tablet three times a day, if you start at 12:37pm, at what time(s) do you take the rest of the tablets? All of this you are solving for X; X is simply an UNKNOWN figure; we all use it every day without thinking about it. The fact that you do not know this means you never understood the concept or you don’t know how to apply the very basic maths. I suspect you are one of those who were using your device during the exam. I hope you didn’t get a V
And that’s just those caught. Consider the number not caught!
Put a band on smartphones during examination. That is when you will know their true worth.
Children of before wrote exams and not a calculator we could have gone in with
Easy solutions. 1) Require student sitting for the exam to show photo identification upon arrival and verify that the person who shows up matches the exam registration and 2) Require that all cell phones be turned in to a proctor before students enter the exam room. No backpacks, purses, notebooks, etc. in the exam room. Hand out pencils in the exam room for use on the tests. It is not difficult to stop cheating.
@Anonymous…”Find the value of x” will be extremely important in life when you must ask yourself “Y must I go back to X?”…lol
Finally I get to post my dry Maths joke…