GUYANA, through the Ministry of Education, is expected to have 13,721 students sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations this year. Twelve thousand, three hundred and sixty-six of them will take the Mathematics test and eleven thousand, four hundred and eighty-four others would be tested in English.
In an invited comment recently, Education Minister Priya Manickchand reiterated that students have been enrolling in more subjects and still continue to do better in them than ever before.
“We should, as a country, celebrate the fact that good Caribbean Examinations Council results are not being centralised in Georgetown but schools across the country have, recently, being shining also,” she said.
According to her, this has been “the Government’s vision for the education system in Guyana and we were able to achieve this significant milestone and growth in this sector because of specific and calculated strategic and very conscious investments being made in this sector.”
The Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) is designed to provide certification of the academic, vocational and technical achievement of students in the Caribbean who, having completed a minimum of five years secondary schooling, wish to further their studies.
The Ministry of Education has reported that 795 candidates have enlisted to sit the CAPE this year, with the highest subject entries being 365 for Caribbean Studies and 400 for Communication Studies.
In a release, the Ministry indicated that, for the candidates sitting CSEC 2014, there is yet, again, outstanding entries where one candidate will sit 20 subjects, two taking 19 subjects, four taking 18 subjects, 16 sitting 17 subjects and 18 sitting 16 subjects.
There will be 2,500 candidates sitting between seven and eight CSEC subjects in 2014.
CSEC candidates are examined for certification in general and technical proficiencies, which provide them with the foundation for further studies and entry to the world of work.
The sittings of the two regional exams, CSEC and CAPE, began on May 5, would conclude on June 13.