With a new facility promised and received, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has been urged to continue its great work in the region despite challenges in its environment.
This advice was offered last Friday by Education Minister, Ronald Jones, as he delivered remarks at CXC???s Staff Appreciation and Awards Luncheon at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion.
???Even though there might have been challenges, put aside those issues and whatever else was in our environment and celebrate; be it the longevity of persons in the institution or the work of your institution,??? Mr. Jones urged.
Reminding the staff that last year he had promised they would be in new facilities, the Minister said he was ???a man of his word??? as the facility at Pine Road had materialised.
CXC was also told that it was one of the leading lights in the region and Mr. Jones stressed: ???There is so much being done to facilitate the learning of our students, even though what you see is the end product.
???But there is so much that CXC is doing to help lead to that particular end product. Your pursuit of excellence within this context is something that should be congratulated and applauded.”
While noting there were challenges in CXC???s external environment which he would soon seek to resolve through discussions with its Registrar and others in education, he warned: ??????At the end of the day, what we do we do not for ourselves, we do it for our young people by and large, and if we frustrate what they do or what they want to achieve, what we implant within our societies are in fact rivers of poison and those rivers of poison will eventually consume us.???
The Education Minister also urged CXC to continue to embrace technology, so as to ensure that its clients in education, and by extension, Caribbean citizens, are well-equipped to face a world that is constantly changing.
Registrar of CXC, Glenroy Cumberbatch, said despite the year???s challenges, the Council was able to complete everything it had to do ???on time???. And, as he congratulated staffers for pulling together, in this respect, he said the plaudits were especially for those who had worked in the same environment, at CXC, for 35 years.
Twenty-three staff members, past and present, were awarded for service to the institution. Those with 35 years at CXC were Frankey Worrell, Greta Forde, Margaret Nurse and Rose Brathwaite.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb