DESPITE the debilitating conditions created last year by the COVID-19 pandemic, students were able to defy the odds and excel at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), as evidenced by the improved pass rates recorded for both assessments.
As announced by Chief Education Officer (CEO), Dr. Marcel Hutson, Guyana recorded a marginal increase in passes at CAPE, with the pass rate moving from 93 per cent in 2019 to 93.16 per cent last year. As for CSEC, the country recorded a pass rate of 75.99 per cent, a 2.99 per cent increase when calculated against the results of 2019.
Guyana’s full performance at both Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)’s examinations was outlined by Dr. Hutson during a press conference at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), on Wednesday.

Specific to CSEC, Dr. Hutson said Guyana saw improved performances in 15 subjects, while pass rates remained constant in nine subjects and declined in 11 subjects. Outstanding performances were noted in 12 subjects, for which 90 per cent of the students gained acceptable grades, that is Grades One – Three.
Some subjects with outstanding performances were Agricultural Science (Double Award) with a pass rate of 97.27 per cent; Industrial Technology – Electrical with 95.78 per cent; Information Technology with 93.89 per cent; Physical Education and Sports with 99.9 per cent; Religious Education with 91.16 per cent; and Theatre Arts with 98.93 per cent.
For English A, the pass rate remained constant at 77.91 per cent compared to 77 per cent in 2019. English B improved significantly, moving from a 58.1 per cent in 2019 to 78.03 per cent in 2020.

There was a noted improvement Mathematics, for which there was a pass rate of 48.66 per cent in 2020 compared to a 43 per cent pass rate in 2019. Additional Mathematics recorded a pass rate of 74.3 per cent in 2020. Some 12,009 candidates were registered in 2020 for the CSEC examinations, an increase from the 11,467 persons registered in 2019. The students collectively wrote 70,710 subjects in 2020. Speaking about the performance at CAPE, Dr. Hutson said several candidates recorded outstanding performance at that level.
Locally, across 15 centres, there were 853 students who wrote 4,393 subjects at CAPE 2020. For this examination, candidates were offered 65 units in 35 subject areas, and each unit comprised three modules.  Based on a breakdown of the results, candidates obtained 100 per cent passes – Grades one to five – in 33 units.
In another 30 units, the pass rate of candidates was 75 per cent or higher, with Grades One to Five passes.

Caribbean Studies and Communication Studies continued to record an over 95 per cent pass rate, while Digital Media and Animation & Gaming Design, which were written electronically, also saw 100 per cent passes. Five of the ten centres where CAPE was written recorded increases in their overall pass rates. Those centers were the Berbice High School; Christianburg/Wismar Secondary School; Mackenzie High School; New Amsterdam Secondary and President’s College.
President’s College moved from 85.19 per cent in 2019 to 94.39 per cent in 2020, while Christianburg/Wismar had an increase in both candidate and subject entries in 2020 when compared to 2019, with an improved overall pass rate of 93.55 per cent. St Joseph High School’s pass rate remained constant in 2020 at 92.99 per cent.
However, The Bishops’ High and Queen’s College recorded a decline in their pass rates for 2020. The Bishops’ High moved from 98.44 per cent in 2019 to 94.3 per cent in 2020, while Queen’s College moved from 94.44 per cent in 2019 to 93.13 per cent in 2020.