Education Ministry to establish new sixth form school
STUDENTS who have a keen interest in sitting the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) will have no reason to be denied this opportunity, as works are being undertaken, by the Education Ministry, to see the establishment of a new sixth form school.
Minister with the portfolio, Mr. Shaik Baksh made the announcement at his ministry’s 15th National Awards Ceremony in the National Cultural Centre, Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown, on Thursday.
He said those prospective candidates will face no obstacles and he revealed, that for 2011, the country saw the highest number of students writing CAPE.
Additionally, Baksh said, since there is a great demand for secondary education throughout the country and, especially in the hinterland areas, provisions are already in place to have more dormitories and schools established to meet the needs of the population.
Turning his attention to teachers, he said, for 2011, the enrolment at Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) fell under 500 applicants, while a larger number of students have been registered at the  University of Guyana (UG) in comparison to previous years.
The minister said this shows that greater emphasis needs to be placed on tertiary education in Guyana.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Education, with its Associate Degree Programme developed for teachers at the CPCE, is hoping to have at least 50 percent of them become graduates in a few years.
Baksh emphasised that, once Guyana can produce teachers, the country will be able to produce students who are ranking higher than previous years in their academics.  Currently, 70 percent of teachers have been trained and, within the following three years, this figure should be increased by another 10 percent.
He said it is with these new interventions in education that Guyana is already moving at a pace that cannot be reversed in the sector.
Making a comparison to years before in the education sector, he pointed to the fact that, in 1992, at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), only four percent of students scored more than 50 per cent in Mathematics while, in 2011, 40 percent of them achieved more than 50 percent. In English, only eight percent passed with 50 percent in 1992, while for this year, the pass rate was 35 percent.
He added that the overall pass rate for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) this year was 64.4 percent, in comparison to 22 per cent in 1992.
For the Caribbean Secondary School Entrance Examination (CSEC) in 1992, there was an 18 percent pass in Mathematics and, in 2011, the statistic increased to 30.3 percent while English Language saw 9.8 percent in 1992 as compared to 60.82 percent this year.

Baksh said 12,731 candidates sat CSEC in 2011 in comparison to 5,000 recorded in 1991 and, for CAPE in 2011, there were 627 entries, the highest number ever received at one time for that examination.
He reported that, last year, there were 1,500 subject entries for CAPE and 2,000 in 2011.
Baksh said the excellent results in the education sector are testimony to the Ministry’s goal of making education a priority, a vision that is strongly endorsed by the Government of Guyana.