BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Sept 4, CMC – Registrar of the Barbados-based Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Dr. Didacus Jules has defended the integrity of the regional examinations after a Jamaican newspaper carried an article that unscrupulous people were selling doctored preliminary results slips on the streets of the capital.
The Gleaner newspaper said during an undercover operation, one of its reporters contacted one of the scammers and purchased a grade one in the CXC’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) mathematics exam for J$12,000 (One Jamaica dollar = US$0.04 cents).
But in a statement, Jules warned buyers that the “presentation of these certificates could result in criminal charges being brought against the holders of the fraudulent results”.
“Each participating territory has legislation in place to prosecute persons suspected of fraudulent activities in respect of CXC examinations,” he added.
The CXC Act states that anyone found guilty of examination fraud “shall be liable on summary conviction in a resident magistrate’s court to a fine not exceeding J$2,000 or in default of payment thereof, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months”.
Section 6 subsection two of the act stipulates that a person commits an examination fraud if he, whether by himself or in concert with others and whether as a candidate at an examination or otherwise, does anything in relation to an examination with the intention of falsifying the result of the examination.
“Without prejudice to any other form of proof, evidence of examination fraud may include … the act of forging, with intent to defraud or deceive, documents relating to access to an examination or to examination results, or the act of uttering any such document knowing it to be forged,” reads section 7 of the CXC Act.
Jules said was he was confident that the holders of fraudulent CXC results slips would eventually be exposed when asked to present the official certificate or request transcripts directly from CXC.
In his statement, he said that the preliminary results slips issued to candidates immediately after the results are released were not the final authority on CXC grades.
“It is not, and I repeat, it is not the official certificate candidates receive from CXC,” he said, as he assured regional candidates that the CXC database is very well protected.
“CXC encourages employers and tertiary institutions to require applicants to request transcripts to be sent directly to them from CXC. CXC does not issue transcripts to individuals.
“We wish to assure the region of the integrity of our exam processing system and the security of our official certificate,” said Jules.
