The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has announced a raft of measures for Jamaican students affected by Hurricane Melissa who will be sitting the May/June examinations, including refunds and deferrals for those whose preparation may still not be up to par.

The measures, which will focus on students in the hardest-hit parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James, Trelawny, Hanover, St Ann, and Manchester, will allow them to take any break that they need as they face the external examinations.

Among the concessions will be modifications to the school based-assessments (SBAs) for all students in Jamaica.

Registrar and chief executive officer at CXC Dr Wayne Wesley told a media briefing on Wednesday that the regional examination body has activated its Regional Disaster and Business Recovery Protocol, which outlines the systems and procedures in place to support participating States affected by disasters and in particular, the support being extended to Jamaica in the aftermath of Melissa.

“As we stand with Jamaica to recover from the unprecedented devastation and dislocation caused by Hurricane Melissa, the Council of CXC has approved an agreed plan of action with the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information in Jamaica,” said Wesley.

According to the action points, CXC will undertake/accommodate the following:

•Administer upcoming CSEC and CAPE examinations in Jamaica in its normal format for all schools and will offer the flexibility of using the modified approach, to those schools negatively affected by the hurricane. Modifications and adjustments will be allowed for Jamaica-based candidates with respect to SBAs.

• Allow late registration for candidates from schools negatively affected, without any late fee requirements.

• Extend the timeline for submission of SBAs for schools negatively impacted by the October 28,l 2025 Category 5 storm to 15 June 2026, without any late fee requirements.

• All candidates based in Jamaica will receive their results in August 2026 with the rest of the region.

• Where candidates register and pay for their examinations but no longer feel ready to sit the examinations, they can seek a refund or defer to another session in 2027.

Director of operations at CXC Dr Nicole Manning, in elaborating on the accommodations being afforded Jamaican students, explained that the most important consideration was to “ensure that we have equity”.

“That is the first principle that we had to hold firm on,” she said, adding, “We had to ensure that we created the balance of compassion with the maintenance of fairness in the assessment.” Manning noted that the strategy not only uplifts those who have struggled, but that it also maintains a sense of trust and fairness.

In this regard, Jamaican students sitting CSEC and CAPE examinations will stick to the general standard format where candidates will sit paper one plus paper two and SBA or paper three/two. Under the modified approach, paper one plus SBA or paper three/two will be accepted.

Manning noted that CXC consulted with the Jamaica’s Ministry of Education and conducted its own situational assessment along with the ministry and the schools to get a better understanding of the situation on the ground.

Following the consultations, it was determined that schools in the seven hardest-hit parishes would be given the flexibility to undertake the full, normal assessment or the modified approach. Schools must indicate by January 14 the format they will be adopting.

Significantly, CXC, after consulting with the education ministry, has indicated that it is willing to accommodate special cases outside the parishes that suffered the most damage and will facilitate usage of the modified approach in such cases.

With all students in Jamaica being offered SBA concessions, a document detailing how each subject will be treated has been created for use in Jamaica only.

Manning said schools have been told the document must not be shared. She said following consultations with the education ministry it was determined that 37 per cent of examination centres in Jamaica would not be ready for full assessment.

At the same time Manning said some principals have indicated that their students are well-advanced and are prepared despite the devastation caused by Melissa and may be ready for the full sitting of the examinations.

“They do have that flexibility so it is really data driven in terms of that decision,” she said.

The director of operations also explained that the decision to modify the SBAs took into consideration the fact that some students would have lost their documents during the hurricane.

The document prepared for Jamaica detailing how these assignments should be treated speaks to what components can be removed from the process. Of note is that there are seven subjects that will not benefit from the modified approach because they are strictly competency-based and, according to Manning, “CXC takes this seriously”.

The subjects include CSEC Theatre Art, CSEC Music, CSEC Human and Social Biology, CSEC Physical Education and Sport and CAPE Performing Arts.