Guyana’s education minister Shaik Baksh is vouching for the integrity of the local security mechanisms in place to safeguard the examination papers for the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) exams currently underway. 

He gave the assurance on Thursday in response to a question from demwaves.com saying that Guyana has always adopted strong security measures.

“From the time it leaves Barbados to the time it gets to the examination room we have very strong security measures in place and that is reviewed every year with the Caribbean Examination Council body, they send people here to oversee the system and I have strong confidence in the integrity of the process,” Baksh said.

There have been leakages of CXC papers locally in the past with the last incident being publicised in 2005 when it was learnt that the CSEC mathematics examination paper was being sold for as much as $50,000.

The year prior to that CXC had briefly withheld the exam results for four subjects, including mathematics, to investigate what authorities described as ""extensive tampering"" of examination papers. A subsequent investigation discovered no breach in the local system.

Baksh said he has confidence in the ability of Superintendent of Examinations Saudia Kadir to ensure that the administration of the examinations run smoothly.

The CSEC examinations began with the Spanish and French Orals on April 18 and are scheduled to end with Food and Nutrition Paper 1 on June 10.