Since the movement towards independence in the 1960s, one of the educational priorities of the West Indies has been to establish its autonomy vis-à-vis the British system. Stafford Griffith states that from 1961, there was talk of creating an examination council in the English speaking Caribbean (West Indian Examinations Council).' In the 1960s, new projects were introduced; and West Indian programmes and textbooks, including the new examinations that we will discuss are, to a certain extent, a continuation of these efforts. In 1972, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), was created. This regional institution was founded by the English-speaking Caribbean nations to promote their interests and to replace the examinations of British universities that were used in the British colonies from the second half of the nineteenth century.