The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) has reported a worrying surge in incidents of students trying to cheat during its May-June 2024 exam sessions.
The behaviors of misconduct include candidates bringing unauthorized cell phones into the testing centers, engaging in outright cheating, and even impersonating other students.
“It’s a very serious matter,” said Nicole Manning, CXC’s Director of Operations, at a press conference this morning.
Manning recounted one particularly egregious case where a candidate was caught trying to pass themselves off as someone else. “So of course, the situation was identified and the candidate is not only disqualified, but debarred for two years,” she emphasized.
This year saw 54 such incidents, a marked increase from the 36 cases documented in 2023. And these aren’t mere allegations, as Manning stressed: “Candidates have to sign to agree, yes, this is what happened. So, we’re not just making it up. The supervisors and invigilators are not making it up. They are telling you; I did this.”
One brazen candidate, Manning revealed, was even caught “literally on their phone” and admitted to googling exam questions during the assessment.
Manning urged students to uphold ethics and integrity and said the council will investigate why candidates might not have been prepared
The increase was mainly noted in the sitting of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams. The CSEC cohort saw a surge from 19 incidents in 2023 to 49 in 2024, while Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) went from 17 cases last year to 6 this year.
CXC has vowed to crack down hard on any future attempts to undermine the integrity of its assessments.
Manning also reported an increase in hardships faced by candidates.
The CAPE results across the region showed 100% of pupils passing French Unit Two, 97% passing both physics Units One and Two, and 96% passing information technology Unit Two. However, CXC registrar and CEO Dr. Wayne Wesley lamented the low pass rate in CSEC maths and called for an address.
 has reported a worrying surge in incidents of students trying to cheat during its May-June 2024){kind=link}