As thousands of Barbadian students prepare to sit for a range of critical national and regional exit examinations this assessment cycle, the Group of Concerned Parents of Barbados has extended its solidarity and well-wishes to young test-takers and their families, while pressing for long-overdue reforms to address deep-rooted systemic inequities in the country’s education sector.
The group’s spokesperson and coordinator Paula-Anne Moore extended targeted encouragement to the youngest cohort of examinees, who are currently undertaking the 11-Plus Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination, alongside students completing vocational qualifications, Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) assessments, and students at the Barbados Community College (BCC).
To 11-Plus candidates, Moore extended a message of comfort, urging young people to approach their exams with calm focus and steady confidence. She also acknowledged the intense stress felt by parents and guardians across the country, advising caregivers to avoid transferring their own anxiety to their children during this high-stakes period. Reminding students that their worth extends far beyond a single test score, she emphasized that these assessments represent just one milestone in a lifelong journey, not a final judgment of their potential. “Your success does not depend on these results alone,” Moore said in her message. “Trust that your best effort is enough, and that the best chapter of your story is still ahead of you.”
Beyond extending well-wishes, Moore used the moment of national exam season to shine a light on structural failures that have created unfair barriers for low-income students across Barbados. As the government moves forward with national education transformation initiatives, she argued that resolving systemic inequities must be at the top of the policy agenda. Most notably, she called out the widespread expectation that families must pay for private tutoring — whether for 11-Plus preparation or CXC assessments — to secure strong exam results. This norm, Moore argued, is inherently unjust: it places disproportionate, crippling financial burdens on low-income households and deepens the disadvantages that marginalized students already face. “Privileged families take access to extra support for granted, but our education system should not compound the unfairness that already shapes life for children born into poverty,” she said.
Moore also addressed the proposed transition to digital and hybrid CXC exam formats, noting that the shift to e-testing for multiple-choice Paper 1 sections and hybrid testing for Paper 2 must be paused until full infrastructure readiness is achieved across all Barbadian schools. She said it is unreasonable to push forward with digital testing until every school has sufficient WiFi connectivity, functional devices, and robust IT capacity, and until all students and teachers have completed adequate training to use the new systems. Any rushed transition, she warned, would only create new barriers for under-resourced schools and deepen existing inequities.
Finally, Moore highlighted a key demographic shift that could create an opportunity for targeted education improvement: this year’s 11-Plus cohort is nearly 300 students smaller than the 2024 cohort, a decline that the group attributes to Barbados’ falling national birth rate. If this downward trend continues, Moore said, it will free up unused school capacity that can be reallocated to provide targeted learning support for students who require extra assistance, a shift that would help advance equity across the system.
Closing her statement, Moore reiterated the group’s prayer for all Barbadian students, urging them to approach their exams with confidence and reminding them that the entire community is rooting for their success.