“Our world is not short on resources; it is short on fairness and courage.” — Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, 25th September 2025

It’s been five years since the grave injustice inflicted on tens of thousands of innocent CARICOM children due to flawed grading of their 2020 CXC exams. Despite having fulfilled education expectations during the difficult pandemic context, 98% of these students were forced to pay for grade reviews amid systemic anomalies—yet received little redress.  Too many entities expected to ensure justice for these children, did not. This stands in stark contrast to the reasonable redress, care and acceptance of responsibility communicated promptly to students at a very similar time and circumstances in the UK.

Though many children and parents have moved on, we will never forget. This column is a message to those children—now young adults: we feel you.

Since 2020, we parents and other education stakeholders have warned that, unless the “preexisting comorbidities in education” that led to the 2020 Grading Crisis were addressed, similar challenges would recur. The persistent systemic challenges in CXC’s grading and several exams since then have proven our concerns valid. Some of these issues stem from broader national and CARICOM education ecosystems, beyond CXC itself.

Critics argue that publicising these failures harms CXC’s, and therefore CARICOM’s reputation and credibility. But I say: sunlight is the best disinfectant. It is the resistance to change that truly threatens our region’s development and ability to retain and attract bright minds. Often, only public pressure forces a response.

Despite the pain of the 2020 grading crisis and subsequent exam challenges, there have been promising developments in education —though much slower than we would have liked.

The crisis sparked a fearless, sustained, constructive movement of parental and student advocacy across Barbados and the CARICOM region. This movement fostered collaboration among education stakeholders and elevated parental voices in policy discussions.

In February 2025, I was honoured to be invited by the then Chair, CARICOM, to present to CARICOM Heads of Government and Sir Hilary Beckles, Chair of CXC, on behalf of CARICOM parents, at the CARICOM HOG Meeting. Our presentation outlined solution-based concerns and called for transformative change both within CXC and in wider education system delivery —emphasising stakeholder engagement, transparency, accountability, governance, communication, and quality assurance.  We again suggested the innovation of an external independent expert exam regulator, similar to UK’s OFQUAL, as endorsed by the then Barbados Minister of Education Bradshaw at the inaugural 2021 Ministers of Education Summit. This recognition of the value and validity of our parental concerns at the highest political levels is deeply encouraging.

Parental inclusion, at the decision-making level, in education policy transformation is acknowledged as essential to success. If CARICOM is serious about caring for children and maintaining global competitiveness, it must embrace parental –  and student –  substantive involvement, in line with international best practice in education policy.

On 15 April 2025, CXC CEO Dr Wayne Wesley announced major changes to CXC’s governance and operations. He described a repositioning strategy focused on, inter alia, modernising governance, expanding stakeholder representation, and strengthening accountability. New board committees will enhance oversight and ensure policy adherence.

Are these reforms a response, at least in part, to five years of our sustained parental advocacy? Perhaps. While they come too late for the thousands of innocent children already harmed—with no real official apology or acknowledgment—they offer hope for future students. But we must move beyond superficial reforms. True transformation demands substance, which cannot be truly effective if change is within only traditional, conventional organisations. Too many were found insufficiently agile in crisis, and still do not respond sufficiently and demonstrate care and concern to the students in communication and operations.

We welcome CXC’s improvements in the tone  and content of  stakeholder communication, especially compared to 2020. But we must assess whether these changes are truly transformative. A “check-the-box” approach won’t suffice. CXC and broader national public education management must embed student care into their core operations. Quality assurance, communication, transparency, accountability and conflict resolution (latter re opportunities to challenge grading and see exam scripts) remain concerns—highlighted by recent assessments by regional master teachers, students and parents, of the 2024 CAPE Chemistry Unit 2 and 2025 CSEC Principles of Accounting Paper 2 exams, and others.

These proposed improvements can coexist with professional testing standards of reliability, validity, and fairness, as obtains in other international exam bodies.

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and its partners, deserve tremendous commendation for its upcoming Education Symposium to strengthen the role of parents in student success. Barbados’ Ministry of Educational Transformation also deserves praise for its leadership and investment in this event.

Under the theme “Stronger Together: Empowering Parents as Partners in Caribbean Education,” the Symposium will place parents and guardians at the heart of education transformation. It will offer capacity building, dialogue with policymakers, and lay the foundation for a sustainable framework supporting parental involvement.

With around 150 participants expected, it is a profound honour to be invited to be part of the symposium’s core planning committee, and to present as a parental representative. It is expected that the Symposium and its outcomes will send a clear message to education stakeholders, particularly parents: diverse parental perspectives are welcome, and inclusive engagement is encouraged.

The Symposium’s outcomes should be flexible and welcoming enough to enhance the incorporation of parental leadership in individual school, national and regional policy-making and execution, whether through formal PTAs or other equally important parental advocacy entities.  The resources and networking opportunities provided at the Symposium will be invaluable to ensure the strengthening of parental engagement, both within and beyond traditional PTA frameworks.

As the saying goes, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”.

The 2020 Grading Crisis and other challenges were tragedies for too many children. These must become catalysts for “lessons learned” and transformative change across our national and regional education ecosystems.

The CDB’s Transforming Education Symposium 2025 is a remarkable opportunity for a collaborative pillar upon which effective CARICOM education transformation, focusing on, empowering, embracing and maximising a diversity of parental support and involvement, can occur.

We must summon the courage to make this opportunity a reality, in the pursuit of justice for all our children.

• Paula-Anne Moore  

Spokesperson and Coordinator 

Caribbean Coalition for Exam Redress 

Group of Concerned Parents of Barbados