The Board Of Examiners is designed to provide a high standard of electricians for the electrical industry. For too long the electricians trade have been stymied by the lack of adequate certified electricians as the vast majority of electricians currently working in the trade are unlicensed. These unlicensed electricians have learned their trade in a very ad hoc manner with the requisite theoretical foundation. While the Electrical Lighting Law stipulates that only licensed electricians should be contracted to carry out electrical works, the current situation is a case where unlicensed and licensed electricians flout the law with impunity with the latter facilitating the former without carrying out the necessary integrity checks of the installation work done by the former.

In order to counter this practice, the Board of Examiners has formed an association with the other stakeholders in the electrical installation trade to find ways and mechanism to improve the training and application of candidates pursuing the electricians licensing examination. This has become necessary, as there seem to be a disconnection between what is being taught in our institutions and the examination that is set by the Board, which is manifested in the unacceptable low pass rate. The average pass rate for the electrical licensing examination over the last decade and beyond is less than 5% with one of the comments being proffered by unsuccessful candidates is that the examination bears no relationship to what is being taught in the training institutions.

We at the Board finds this quite puzzling as the questions as the questions prepared are directly related to the trade and anyone who seeks to become a licensed electrician should be fairly comfortable in answering these questions; Hence the collaboration with the stakeholders in finding the mechanism to increase the low pass rates. The Board of Examiners cognizant of the low passing rates have made and is making considerable efforts to construct our exam methodology in a manner that would relieve the anxiety in the examination room, which we thought was the primary hindrance to the success of the candidates. For example, in the past we had questions that would require detailed explanation of the answer. Hence, the multiple choice approach that we thought would decrease the anxiety of the candidates in their interpretation of the questions and which would have led to an increase in the passing rate.

As a part of the continuing process, we developed a matrix to capture the ability of the candidates against the perceived difficulty of the question. This new method was implemented in the August 2014 examination with extremely positive results. We are encouraged by the results as it augurs well for the future development our country. Another reason being put forward by international companies for bringing into the country their own electricians to carry out work in Jamaica is that our electricians are not certified. This situation must be remedied and at the same time their arguments should not go unchallenged.

If we get this right the possibilities are endless as there are opportunities for licensed and certified electricians worldwide, with our excess capacity being easily exported. This would reduce unemployment in the sector and increase remittance flow of foreign exchange into the country. We must continue to refine our examination process without compromising its integrity, which will allow us to train a vibrant workforce that can compete at the international level. I am extremely proud of the members of the Board who often times carry out their functions beyond my expectations and sometimes at their own expense Praise goes out as well to the management and staff for the exemplary work they do in support of the Board