The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) will this month launch five “new-generation” subjects for the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) bringing to 30 the total number of subjects offered at the advanced level exam.
The five new CAPE subjects for teaching in September 2014 and first examination in 2015 are Agricultural Science, Entrepreneurship, Performing Arts, Physi-cal Education and Sport, and Tourism, a statement from CXC said.
“This step is a giant leap toward providing our youth with the knowledge, the confidence and insights needed to change the quality of the experience we sell. Thousands of tourism frontline workers who are in positions to make or break this industry will now have an opportunity to get a tertiary education. For them a CXC certificate, or just the knowledge gained while studying for that certificate, could be an absolute game-changer,” Hugh Riley, Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation was quoted as saying about the introduction of Tourism at CAPE.
The statement said that the five subjects will be launched in five CXC participating countries with each event having a specific subject theme. The first launch will be on Friday in Barbados and the theme for that event is tourism.
Guyana will host the launch with the Agricultural Science theme next Monday. On May 15, the launch will continue in Trinidad and Tobago with the theme being entrepreneurship. St Lucia will host the launch which focuses on the Performing Arts on May 16. The final launch will take place in Jamaica on May 20 with Physical Education and Sport as the theme.
CXC is partnering with various stakeholders to host the different events. These include the Caribbean Tourism Organisa-tion (CTO), the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF) of St Lucia, the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and various tertiary institutions in Jamaica.
Several ministers of governments as well as Glenroy Cumberbatch, Acting Registrar of CXC, representatives from stakeholder organisations and CXC resource persons will speak at the launch events.
The introduction of the five new subjects follows the launch of Digital Media in September 2013 and brings the total number of subjects offered at CAPE to 30.
