MINISTER of Education, Nicollette Henry has announced that some 42 percent of the 14,300 students who wrote the April 17 – 18 examinations scored 50% or more in Mathematics, a marked increase from the 38.3 percent pass rate that was recorded in 2018.

The percentage also represents a significant 28.15 percent increase since 2016 when the pass percentage stood at 13.85. Aside from Region 8, the most significant increases in Mathematics were seen in Region 3 which saw a 10% increase moving from a 41.3% pass to a 51.7% pass rate, while Region 2 saw a 6.1 percent increase moving from 32.2 percent last year to 38.3 percent this year.

The significant increases in the performances in Mathematics come following the ministry’s implementation of an Emergency Mathematics Intervention Plan beginning in 2016, which saw a heightened focus on the subject area.

However, the question was raised as to whether the focus on Mathematics was at the expense of other subject areas. Though Mathematics recorded a significant increase in passes this year, English Language, Social Studies and Science all saw dips in their pass percentages when compared to last year.

In response, the minister reminded that notwithstanding the fall for the varying subject areas, the students are still performing at a significantly improved level compared to where things stood just a few years ago. “Over the past five-year period there is a positive trend with the candidates who traditionally would have scored below 25 percent decreasing, in fact in English, Mathematics and Science we have observed significant progress and we now see that majority of our students are able to gain more than 45 percent pass. Of course there’s still a long way to go, but it’s a start,” the minister said.

This year more than half of the candidates passed English, with 57.4 percent scoring 50 percent or more in the subject. In 2018 the past rate for this subject stood at 60.6 percent.
In Science there was a 42.4 percent pass rate as compared to 2018 when the rate was 46.8 percent. In 2016 the rate was as low as 27.55 percent.

Chief Education Officer (CEO), Marcel Hutson, said that even as the ministry looks to do all it can to address challenges in student performances, other stakeholders also have roles to play to help the process. “It is very clear to us as a ministry that no single entity has all the solutions that are critical in moving an education system forward.

We need a coming together of the minds and resources for a collective impact. This year we’ve seen some good signs suggesting we are moving in the right direction. As a ministry we recognise that to grow our organisation we need to grow our people and there is no way around that. We will forever seek to develop programmes to develop our stakeholders,” Hutson noted.