KINGSTON, Jamaica—A total of 3,444 special needs students across the Caribbean, the majority of whom were visually-impaired, sat examinations administered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) in 2025.

Special provisions were made for the candidates under the World Intellectual Property-administered Marrakesh Treaty. The Treaty makes the production and international transfer of specially-adapted books for people with blindness or visual impairments easier. It does this by establishing a set of limitations and exceptions to traditional copyright law.

The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted on June 27, 2013, and entered into force on September 30, 2016.

Registrar and Chief Executive Officer at the CXC, Dr Wayne Wesley, spoke to the issue during a CXC press conference held last Wednesday in Kingston, Jamaica.

“As I shared several weeks ago at a regional WIPO Workshop on the Marrakesh Treaty, CXC will actively advocate through ministries of education across the Caribbean for the adoption and implementation of this Treaty to support accessible learning and to advocate for the needs of visually impaired and print-disabled students,” Wesley said.

“As we continue to refine our approaches and technologies to enhance accessibility to our examinations for this year and future years, we commit to ensuring that all candidates — regardless of ability, can participate fully and fairly,” Wesley added.

He said CXC will continue to widen access to its services in inclusive ways for the disabled or “differently-abled”, thus fulfilling its duty of care to the people of the region.