CXC Flags Alarming Rise in Exam Cheating

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has sounded the alarm on a sharp increase in cheating during this year’s examinations, describing the trend as a threat to the integrity of the region’s education system.

Dr Nicole Manning, Director of Operations at CXC, disclosed that 80 irregularities were recorded in the May–June 2025 sitting, the highest in recent years. “Not good. Not good,” she told the results release ceremony in the Cayman Islands. “It therefore means that these candidates of the 80 may have different penalties and I can tell you majority of these candidates—over 40 to 50 percent—would have their results cancelled.”

The irregularities ranged from students being caught with mobile phones and smart watches to collusion during exams. “We are seeing now where the smart watches are becoming a part of the process. It’s no longer just the phone,” Manning explained, adding that CXC has now widened its rules from prohibiting “cell phones” to banning all “unauthorised devices.”

Collusion also spiked this year, particularly at the CSEC level. Manning noted: “That means we are cheating, right? We’re working together where candidates drop the paper on the ground and the person next door knows that he must pick it up and so on and so forth.”

The Council has urged parents and teachers to help instil stronger values of integrity among students. “We beg and plead every year but it is something that’s important,” Manning said. “I cannot end this component of my presentation without encouraging the ethical use and the whole notion of integrity as you engage in the process.”

CXC confirmed that penalties vary depending on the offence, from cancellation of a single subject to complete disqualification. Cases where candidates’ scripts showed identical errors are still under investigation, and affected students have been notified through their local registrars.

While students in Montserrat have already received their individual results, the Ministry of Education has not yet published the island’s overall performance report.