I want my copyright back!

Okay, I'm a few months away from sitting my Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination. I'm sitting for seven subjects including English Language. During the English exam one has to write two essays: one a short story and the other an argumentative. It being an important, regional examination no one apart from officials from the Caribbean Examinations Council has access until results are released. That's all well and good.

My issue is the statement found on the website of the Council as it pertains to their regulations on examination work.

"Every application to enter the examination will be deemed to constitute an agreement by the candidate with the Council to assign copyright of all his examination work, practical or written, to the Council."

Now, I have no problem with any work I might submit to any of my other examinations but I actually find that some of my best prose work is conducted in classroom and examination situations. I'm lazy and don't like to start work on my own. So, I'd like to be able to keep my intellectual property rights on my essays thank you very much, or at least only have a temporary copyright agreement until the exam results are released in their entirety, including special awards. It is my work after all.

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