– grades in 16 other subject areas also improve

THE Ministry of Education believes that the education sector is on a developmental trajectory and the performance in Mathematics and English at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, is evidence of the improvements in the sector.

“We are on a developmental trajectory and the movement is not exactly where we want it to be, but we are moving and that is what is significant in the education sector,” said Chief Education Officer (CEO), Marcel Hutson during his remarks at the announcement of the results for CSEC and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) on Friday.
According to statistics from the ministry, English A recorded a pass rate of 67.14 per cent in 2018 as compared to 57.99 per cent in 2017. The English B pass rate in 2018 was 78.6 per cent as compared to 44.45 per cent in 2017.

Mathematics also improved with a pass rate of 43.39 per cent in 2018, as compared to 39.23 per cent in 2017. Additionally, Mathematics remained constant with a pass rate 68.45 per cent in 2018 to 68.61 per cent in 2017.

Hutson believes that the introduction of School Based Assessments (SBAs) to Mathematics and English could have resulted in the improvements.

“In terms of the details, we are yet to get the disaggregation in terms of scores from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), but there were also a number of things outside of the SBAs which could have caused the movement which we would have seen, particularly in Mathematics,” said the CEO, noting that among the projects was the Guyana Secondary Improvement Project, which was designed to improve the performance of students by training teachers.

In addition to those subjects, improved performances were evident in 16 subjects; constant in seven subjects and declined in 12 subjects. Outstanding performances were also noted in seven subjects, where 90 per cent and over gained acceptable grades 1-3.

Some subjects with outstanding performances were agricultural science (double award) with 96.14 per cent; Information Technology with 97.5 per cent; religious education with 96.69 per cent; physical education and sports with 99.92 per cent; and industrial technology- mechanical with 98.57 per cent.

A total of 12,269 candidates were registered for 2018 CSEC, compared to 12,684 registered for 2017. Subject entries for 2018 were 69,194.

IMPROVED OVERALL
An analysis of the 2018 results revealed that the overall pass rate at the general and technical proficiencies for Grade one to three was 69.1 per cent. The overall pass rate has improved from 2017, when a pass rate of 63.68 per cent was attained.

“I would want to attribute this to behaviour patterns in the education sector…we are beginning to recognise how we ought to function and this is taking traction…all our children are gifted and therefore we have a responsibility to tap into that giftedness and ensure that our children perform with respect to applying the right kind of methodology,” said Hutson.
His view is that persons are becoming more passionate about the examinations and there is more collaboration among parents, teachers and students.

This is evident, because there are improved results despite the challenges which the sector faced and continues to face, he said.