THE SHORTAGE of computers in schools has created the need for a second practical paper for students sitting the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Information Technology (IT) test.
This second paper, to be introduced this year, will allow schools with large groups of candidates to divide them into smaller groups and administer the exam over two days instead of one.
According to Wesley Barrett, chief education officer at the Ministry of Education, the second paper should provide some solution to the growing number of IT students competing for the limited computers available in most schools.
"We don't have enough machines for all students to do examinations at once, so we have to do it in shifts. We have tried various ways to get around that problem but the number (of candidates) has been rising faster than the schools have been obtaining machines," Mr. Barrett recently told JIS News.
The candidates who sit the exams on day two will be administered the second paper to ensure no student has an advantage.
Mr. Barrett explained that IT practicals are usually done in one day. Schools without adequate equipment would divide the number of students into two or three groups.
They would then "quarantine" the other groups to prevent any exchange of questions to those students waiting to take the examination later that day.
While the new paper would not eliminate the group arrangement it would remove the need for isolating students, as the second practical paper would have a different set of questions and a different paper would be administered to each group.
Mr. Barrett made the request for another paper at the CXC Council meeting on December 5 in Trinidad. This was done in light of the shortage of facilities and the growing number of candidates sitting the exams each year. In 2003, 5,759 students sat the IT exams, an increase of 24 per cent over 2002 when 4,628 candidates sat the exams.
Hector Stephenson, the CXC's executive director, pointed out that most schools were facing a strain caused by a shortage of adequate computers to facilitate the growing number of students.
"There have been a few cases where they may have had to do the examination in three different groups. We sent our policy statement that this should not happen for 2004. We are hoping we will have no more than two sittings in a day and in those schools with large number of candidates, the examination will be done over two days," Mr. Stephenson said.
