Two thousand three hundred and sixty-two candidates on the island are simultaneously sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), administered by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC).

CSEC officially began on April 18th, when Visual Arts candidates were given a 2-week period to prepare for their practical.

Theoretical and practical work in the approximately thirty (30) subject areas started Tuesday May 6, while in Barbuda, candidates began a day earlier.

The nineteen hundred and forty-five (1,945) candidates registered for the CSEC are writing the examinations at twenty-one (21) centres across the island, including nine (9) Government and Private Secondary Schools and the Antigua and Barbuda Institute of Continuing Education (ABICE).

Head of the Examinations Unit in the Ministry of Education, Myrick Smith is reporting success thus far in the manner in which the examinations are being executed. But he says the challenge lies in the subject areas, which require the use of computers, namely Information Technology and Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPM), citing inadequate computers and printers to facilitate candidates, in addition to systems breakdown and power outage.

Smith noted however that CXC will soon take steps to eliminate such setbacks by further developing the subject areas.

The CSEC exams come to an end on Friday 13th June, when Building Technology, Human and Social Biology and Food and Nutrition will be written.

Results are expected mid-August.

Meantime, four hundred and seventeen (417) candidates are sitting Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), in 23 subject areas at four (4) centres, the largest being the Antigua State College.

CAPE will also conclude on Friday, 13th June.