Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter

Eight thousand students from the region will sit for the first time the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) examin-ation in June.

The examination, which is being administered regionally by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), is designed to certify the knowledge, competencies, attitudes and values of all secondary school leavers.

Senator Noel Monteith, State Minister in the Ministry of Education and Youth, who officially launched the examination on behalf of Education Minister, Maxine Henry-Wilson, on Wednesday at the Knutsford Court Hotel in St. Andrew, said the Government welcomed the administering of the exams.

"Because many of our young people have left school without being certified," he said, "this issue becomes even more pressing as the world system becomes more competitive and also within the context of the CARICOM Single Market Economy where skilled persons and personnel are able to work in other countries within CARICOM."

Meanwhile, Hopeton Henry, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, welcomed the examination, but raised concerns about remuneration of teachers who mark school-based assessment work for these exams.

Jacqueline Coke-Lloyd, executive director of the Jamaica Employers' Federation, in endorsing the examination, said this was a welcome move, and that it would contribute towards workforce improvement and eventually the reduction in crime.

Candidates who successfully complete the CCSLC would have achieved a foundation for further education and training; competencies in problem-solving, critical thinking, working in groups, oral and written communication, mathematical literacy and would have achieved positive image of self, family community, region and the world.