The Barbados-based Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has secured another major legal victory over a group of students challenging its exam processes.
On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal rejected the students’ application to appeal a lower court ruling. While sympathising with parents, the court said students lacked jurisdiction to bring the action.
In June 2021, High Court Justice Michelle Weekes struck down a claim by students seeking a judicial review of the 2020 CXC exams and 2021 test format. She ruled the students had no legal standing as CXC is an inter-governmental organisation, not a Barbados government authority. The students then took the case to the appellate court.
CXC’s attorney, Richelle Nichols, said claimants could now seek leave to challenge the latest judgment at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Barbados’ final appeal court.
But, the education ministry’s lawyer, King’s Counsel Roger Forde noted any further action would have to come from the students themselves, no longer minors, to petition the regional court directly.
The students had sought declarations that CXC’s 2020-21 exam processes for CAPE and CSEC qualifications were unlawful, and orders quashing grades and mandating reviews. They also wanted injunctions preventing the destruction of 2020 scripts and restraining the 2021 exams pending
changes.
It is uncertain if students will continue pursuing the case. They had additionally sought damages and costs from CXC, the education ministry and the attorney general’s office.
The legal battle stems from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to the 2020 and 2021 exam cycles for Caribbean secondary and post-secondary qualifications administered by CXC.
The students’ lead attorney, Liesel Weekes, now an acting High Court judge, had given notice of intent to appeal Justice Weekes’s 2021 ruling that CXC was immune from Barbados’ legal processes.
The Court of Appeal has now affirmed that CXC’s inter-governmental status precluded the students’ judicial review claim.
CXC, along with the Barbados government, successfully argued the regional exams body could not be subjected to domestic courts in this matter.
The substantive claims regarding the validity and fairness of CXC’s alternative pandemic exam processes were not evaluated by either the High Court or Court of Appeal due to jurisdictional issues.
CXC and education officials have defended the revised qualification schemes as a necessary response to COVID-19 disruptions while maintaining standards.
(EJ)
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