JAMAICA’S teachers and employers have given their stamp of approval to the new Caribbean-wide examination geared at readying students for entry-level employment, and life-long learning.

The JTA and the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF) gave their full support to the new Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) at its launched at the Knutsford Court Hotel in St Andrew last Wednesday night.

JEF president Jacqueline Coke-Lloyd said the introduction of the CCSLC had a number of benefits to the individual students, employers, the family and society.

“The education and development attained by the CCSLC will lead to the enhancement of social skills and a better understanding of the world of work and business by potential employees,” Coke-Lloyd said.

Minister of Education Maxine Henry-Wilson, through a speech read by Minister of State Noel Monteith, welcomed the introduction of the CCSLC and called for more flexibility in the secondary education system to allow for the seamless transfer of students between general education, and technical and vocational streams.

To obtain the CCSLC, students must successfully complete five subjects, including Mathematics and English over a maximum three years.

CXC registrar Dr Lucy Steward said the CCSLC would provide the foundation for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), as well as prepare students for entry-level employment.

She noted that the programme provided the opportunity, through systematic instruction, for the development of skills such as oral and written communication, mathematical literacy, problem solving and critical thinking.

Steward said there will be a continuous assessment of students to be done by teachers, as well as a multiple choice exam administered by the CXC. She added that 8,000 students across the region had registered for the exam, of which Jamaica had the largest number.

With the addition of this new examination, however, more School based assessments will have to be undertakeen and it is by teachers that they will ahve to be marked.

It is a task for which teachers not only in Jamaica, but across the Caribbean wish to be paid, according to president of Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Hopeton Henry.

Henry warned that the issue, which had been raised at a recent meeting of the Caribbean Union of Teachers in St Vincent and the Grenadines, was one that needed to be addressed as a matter of immediacy.

“We should sit and try to deal with this issue with dispatch. All is not well, and the region is demanding no less,” the JTA head said.