The months of June to September are usually very consequential ones for the education system as a whole, but specifically for the 40,000 grade 6 students who take the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams in June and the grade 11, 12, and 13 students who take Caribbean Examinations Council examinations — Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

For all of them, this is a decisive juncture in their lives that will determine their pathway to the future. The anticipation around the results of these examinations, to some extent, confirm that many still see education as the ladder to ultimate success.

For those of us who have even been tangentially involved in PEP, we look forward to the scientific, objective evaluation of its real success: To what extent has it fulfilled the commendable core objectives of enhancing students’ higher order thinking of problem solving, reasoning, and creativity. It should also signal a decisive and mortal blow to rote learning and memorisation.