The recent announcement by the Caribbean Examinations Council that over 35,000 candidates failed to turn up for their CSEC and CAPE examination papers, with more males than females absent, is nothing less than deeply disturbing. This represented over one-third of the 100,000 students who took the earlier examinations.

No breakdown was provided by island, but presumably this failure was spread across the participating islands. As expected, blame and criticism were directed towards the missing students and, presumably, their struggling families.

No Accountability

As usual in the Caribbean, those responsible fled from accountability, including the examining body, the schools, the responsible ministries and, of course, the great leaders of the Caribbean.

This is a major crisis that requires immediate attention. Falling murder rates in the hundreds are welcome, but failing students are numbered in the thousands.

Will there be a review, followed by meaningful solutions, or is this to become another Cooper’s Pen in Jamaica?

It cannot have been so long ago that many in the Caribbean would recall the layers of public examinations, in their pre-teen and teenage years, that drove fear into one’s heart amid limited resources, mediocre teachers and struggling schools. These examinations were life-changing and pivotal in helping seeds grow into trees.

Silence is Golden

The silence of Caribbean ministries and their leaders is deafening — a constant and recurring phenomenon. Wait for the carefully spun press release, but avoid holding your breath.

It is as if the powerful and wealthy classes are able to keep the poor and downtrodden down without lifting a finger, while governments reinforce that paradigm through their failure to act. Less competition there.

Norman Manley, Eric Williams and Bustamante must be spinning, not merely turning, in their graves.

The hospitality sector will be supplied with a new annual stream of workers, moving from plantation to hotel through default vocational pathways. They will be followed by those seeking employment among the limited opportunities in the music or cannabis industries. There will be no second chance for the hidden gems among an increasingly crowded field each year, many of whom may never discover their true potential or fulfil their destiny.

Perhaps it is an easier choice when there are fewer critics among workers or within society. More political blindness among desperate masses, consigned to follow those who are not leading.

When will it change, so that parents no longer have to suffer at the polling booth?

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord.