Ministry fully endorses City & Guilds exam
THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE LETTER of the Day of Friday, February 23 was grossly inaccurate in the claims t hat t he Ministry of Education, Youth and Information (MOEYI) had reneged on a previous endorsement of the City & Guilds exams and certification.
In fact, the MoEYI has been consistent in supporting and highlighting the success of students doing City & Guilds exams, including at press conferences reporting on the results of CSEC and other secondary-level exams. The performance of students in the City & Guilds (C&G) has been equally presented and made available to the media.
We also wish to point out that in April 2017, subsequent to a review and assessment of the C&G’s Qualifications English Skills #3850 and Mathematics Skills #3850, the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) advised portfolio minister, Senator Ruel Reid, of their recommendation that tertiary institutions could accept both programmes when reviewing the profiles of candidates for admissions to their programmes.
ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION
Depending on the specific programme being pursued, it remained within the remit of the institutions to ask for additional qualification. The minister has not disagreed with the recommendation. The UCJ is the national quality-assurance body for tertiary education, which falls under the portfolio of the Minister Reid.
To date, 21 tertiary-level institutions, including The Mico University College and the Caribbean Maritime University, have provided written letters of endorsement of Stage 3 C&G exams i n mathematics and English. A full list of institutions is provided hereunder:
The City & Guilds Jamaica representative office in Kingston has received endorsements from the following entities: B&B University College Bethlehem Moravian College Brown’s Town Community College
Caribbean Maritime University
Catholic College of Mandeville
College of Insurance & Professional Studies Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts Excelsior Community College Jamaica Theological Seminary Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission
Justice Training Institute, Ministry of Justice International University of the Caribbean
Media Technology Institute of the CPTC
Midland Bible Institute Northern Caribbean University
The Council of Community Colleges Jamaica
The Hydel University College The Mico University College University of the Commonwealth Caribbean Vocational Training Development Institute
■ Western Hospitality Institute
The Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Constabulary Force have also incorporated the C&G results into their recruitment process.
The local City & Guilds office has also reported that more than 200 candidates who are sixthform students are registered to write Engineering #2850 (Level 3) in June 2018. They are jointly pursuing CSEC CAPE physics, maths and science/associate degree in industrial technology.
We, therefore, reiterate that any claim that the Ministr y of Education, Youth and Information has reneged or backtracked on its endorsement of C&G certification is misleading.
COLIN STEER Director, Corporate Communication Ministry of Education, Youth and Information colin.steer@moey.gov.jm