As the deadline looms for matriculation to universities and sixth form colleges, students of Alexandra Secondary School in St Peter claim they have been barred from accessing the results of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) set by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).
Students of Christ Church Foundation School have also been experiencing similar problems with finding their results, Barbados TODAY has learned.
So far, there were no other reports of high school students being unable to obtain news of the exams they sat two months ago.
But the examination body has advised students to go to the CXC website directly to retrieve their results.
The issue at Alexandra prompted the head of the Barbados Students Association at University of the West Indies (UWI) at Cave Hill Campus, Jade Agard, herself an Alexandra old scholar, to placed the blame squarely at the feet of her alma mater.
“This morning, a lot of students were turned away because they had not paid petty fees. Now, these are students who would not have paid petty fees from first form to fifth form. So my question is, if these students have not paid petty fees from first form to fifth form, whoever is the head of accounts at the school, or whoever is in charge of funds, which I assume would the secretary-treasurer... would have contacted these students' parents,” Agard said.
She believed that even a guidance counsellor could also have been the “go-between” to inform the parents early what the outstanding fees were.
“I would assume that they would have contacted the students' parents to let them know that this is the amount of money
. . . is it possible . . . . Talk to the guidance counsellor to say well, 'this is the amount of money owed. . . and I haven't seen anybody come to pay this money. I haven't seen anybody contact us about not being able to pay the funds. Is it a case of not being able to pay the funds. Is it a case where you need assistance. . . [or] unable to pay?’'' the students' spokesperson queried.
It was at this point that she asked why wait until the students reached fifth form to stop them from being able to access their results and receive their CXCs with a deadline so imminent.
“The deadline [for students trying to get into sixth forms] is Monday,” Agard said.
She explained that Government-funded parents of those entering UWI might be able to pay by the end of next week and still meet the university's deadline of August 30.
But according to her, the same cannot be said for students enrolling at the Barbados Community College (BCC) and sixth forms whose deadline is Monday.
Asked how many complaints she received from students this morning the BSA official replied: “There were approximately five children who went in this morning were turned away and said they owed money.
“And then there are still students now who are coming together saying to each other 'I am not able to access my results. This is from Alexandra specifically. I am an old scholar of Alexandra as well. . . that was one of the reasons the issue was brought to my attention,” Agard stated.
The association president also complained about the way in which she was treated by an official of the school when she sought to get information on the situation on behalf of her constituents.
In his response, Alexandra’s principal, Orson Alleyne, said: “It has been the practice of all schools to block access to the CXC results to those who are still indebted to the school in one way or another.”
Alleyne went on to say that the office was still open and receiving payment from those with outstanding balances.
CXC also commented on the situation, pointing out that the CCSLC results are available online.
“The CCSLC May/June 2018 exam results are now available online. Log on to the online students portal to access the results by clicking this tile on our homepage http://www.cxc.org,” the Council stated. It also said that the CSEC May/June 2018 exam results should be available online after 10 p.m. today.
“If you are experiencing difficulties accessing your results, you may need to contact your school for information on jow to resolve the issues that you are encountering,” according to the CXC statement.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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