 Still on the regional front, the Karakom Council for Human and Social Development COSOD has committed to working with the Caribbean Examinations Council CXC to preserve the integrity and validity of the regional examinations that are scheduled for the period from June to July 2021. Tucson-Kain English Francis of Karakom News Time reports. The COSOD met on February 26 and March 1 and reached several agreements on the administration of the 2021 regional examinations, including that the examinations will be held in their original formats. That is, the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination Cape, the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate CSEC, Papers 1 and 2 and 3 for private candidates, and for the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence, that is, CCLSE, Papers 1 and 2. Chairman of the COSOD, Honorable Jeffrey Lloyd, Minister of Education of the Bahamas, told a post-meeting media briefing that after careful analysis and with consideration for the well-being of the students, the COSOD also extended the deadline by which students should signal their intention to defer the sitting of the exams. It now have until the 1st of May to do so. The COSOD expresses its appreciation to the CSEC for its efforts to ensure the smooth transition and matriculation of the region's youth to the world of work and post-secondary or tertiary education. Recognizing the impact of 19 pandemic on equitable access and the continuity of learning, this in their deliberations made every effort to advocate for concessions to be provided. Thus, the ministers endorsed the recommendation to provide additional time for in-person teaching and learning to complete the school-based assessment, close teaching gaps, and increase the chances of successful outcomes. COSOD agreed that CSEC will share with the ministries of education the broad topics for paper two, five weeks before the start of the examinations. However, Dr. Wayne Wesley, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the CSEC has cautioned it is important for teachers and students to complete the entire syllabus for their respective examinations. As it relates to the sharing of topics, while CSEC will submit to all ministries of education the broad topics to be assessed on papers two, five weeks in advance of the administration of the examinations, which means on May 10th that listing of topics will be available to the ministries of education. It must be said and indicated all candidates must be reminded that all topics are covered in paper one for all subjects. In addition, there are certain subjects so which the details are not readily specifically available in the syllabus. We will make sure that information is provided. Of interest to young people seeking entrance into the University of the West Indies, the UWI University will consider their year one K results. The course would agree to extend the matriculation waiver UWI introduced in 2020 to allow it to consider K candidates for admission based on year one results given that the year two results were released after the start of the academic year. Minister Lloyd said the Carbon Primary Exit Assessment is scheduled for the 27th and 28th of May and the results can be expected by the 15th of June. The period for the online training and assessment quality audits for Carbon Vocational Qualification is May to August 2021 based on agreements with individual participating territories and ministries of education will receive the results in the last week of September.