And based on that, I think IT subjects should be made compulsory at secondary school level. Students thus matriculating will have the best of both worlds: an essential subject at the bridge to A-Levels and also a essential knowledge of what they will actually be dealing with in class, office, and at home.

I don’t know what other readers think?

IT could be made a compulsory subject, but the current syllabus would most likely need to be revised to make it more suitable for a wider audience. However, there might still need to be a syllabus that caters to those who might wish to pursue IT as a profession. Nevertheless, a crucial stumbling block, regardless of the options available, would be access to computing facilities. It makes no sense to demand that more students study IT, but there are not enough computers available, or students get insufficient face-time in front of a PC.

With regard to your second question, domestic/personal finance is really not offered at the CXC/CESC level. The closest subjects would most likely be “Principles of Business” and “Principles of Accounting”, but again these are preparing students for further academic pursuits.

The ground work for domestic/personal finance would be established in Mathematics, but it is not a separate course. In Mathematics, students would learn about dollars and cents, currency conversion, calculating interest, etc. They would not be learning about investment vehicles, applying for loans, personal finance-oriented strategies, etc.

Just to be clear, the CXC/CSEC exams discussed in the article are critical exams in the Caribbean. They are the key to A-levels (Grades 12 and 13) and depending on the route selected, for admission to University.

Like budgeting, computing is something they will probably have to live with, but do we have compulsory subjects in domestic/personal finance?

I would be grateful to get someone’s thoughts.