The attention of TCICC Management and Staff has been drawn to a viral post on social media platforms, namely, FaceBook's "Free to Speak", and on WhatsApp.
We appreciate the concerns and frustration expressed via the Social Medium platform, however, we want to also remind students, parents and the community at large that the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College is your college.
It is an institution that has served you for 27 years, and our doors remain open for you to talk to us directly and provide the institution with the opportunity to address any and all concerns within a timely manner, before proceeding to the use or other public mediums to raise their concern.
Notwithstanding, we have taken note of the two areas of concerns that have been raised. (a)Face-to-Face Examinations The desire of a few students to sit the Fall Semester Examinations scheduled for December 2 – 10, 2021 online rather than face to face has been voiced.
The preference for “continuous assessment/online examinations” was also expressed based on their concern for their health and wellbeing. We acknowledge and understand the concerns students have in regard to COVID-19, and their preference for continuous assessment / online examinations, unfortunately the method used to assess student performance lies entirely with the examining body, which in the case all Bachelor’s degree programmes offered at the TCICC, is Council of Community College of Jamaica (CCCJ), and by extension, the University Council of Jamaica.
It should be noted that the TCICC is in total compliance with national and international protocols governing social gathering to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in face-to-face teaching as well as examination settings at both TCICC campus sites.
We assure students that those strategies will continue until such time as the Turks and Caicos Islands Government advise that it is safe to discontinue them. To date we have not had any issues with face-to-face classes and in this regard, we do not anticipate that face-to-face examinations will prove challenging from a health and safety perspective. (b) Outstanding Certificates The second issue pertains to graduates who are awaiting receipt of their outstanding degree certificates.
This is indeed a legitimate concern that we jointly share. As noted earlier, our Bachelor’s degrees are done in conjunction with CCCJ. The existing MOU confers the responsibility to issue the degree certificates to the CCCJ, as is the case with other institutions in Jamaica.
We acknowledge that the efficiency in the current procedure for having the certificates issued has not worked in the best interest of the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College family. This is a matter which has been raised at the highest level at the CCCJ and the University Council of Jamaica.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Community College and in Collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Employment, Labour and Customer Services commits to take the appropriate steps to bring this matter to a swift resolution and take further steps to prevent future reoccurrence.
We appreciate that such delays are affecting our students and progressing with their career and life-plans. We kindly ask and invite those students to contact the Academic Dean’s office regarding the status of their certificates for an update on the matter. We are the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College – your community college, and our doors are always open to you.