GUYANA has recorded significant performances in several subject areas for the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Exam (CAPE) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

This announcement was made by education officials on Thursday at the Anna Regina Multilateral School, in Region Two, where the country’s preliminary performances in the two areas were revealed.

Some 12,819 students sat both CAPE and CSEC exams in the country, with 701 of those completing CAPE and 12,118 completing CSEC.
According to Chief Education Officer (CEO), Saddam Hussain, for the CSEC examinations in Guyana this year, there were 75,644 subject entries, and an overall matriculation rate of 65 per cent.

Hussain added that in these preliminary results, outstanding performance means that nationally there was a more than 80 per cent pass rate in 14 subject areas.
These subject areas include agricultural science both double and single awards, food nutrition and health, music, physical education, technical drawing and theatre arts, among others. He added that stable performances were recorded in several subject areas including English, mathematics, and Caribbean history.

While some outstanding performances were recorded, the Chief Education Officer said that there was a decline in quite a few subjects as well.
Hussain said that the ministry will, on Monday, begin the process to put forward action to rectify these areas where declines were seen.
“….We will ask our supervision arm to ensure that all issues are identified and then our training arm of NCERD [will] ensure that the necessary help is provided,” he said.
For CAPE, the CEO revealed that there was an increase in the number of entries, with 701 candidates this year as compared to 671 in 2022. Units in 29 different subject areas were offered this year.

He added that CAPE unlike CSEC is reported on a seven-point scale, so persons obtaining grades one to five in subjects would mean that they have attained an acceptable standard for matriculation.

As a result, he added that the overall matriculation rate for CAPE this year stands at 90.85 which, he said, is about a two per cent decrease as compared to 2022.
A 100 per cent pass rate was recorded in 12 units including Accounting Unit 2, Applied Mathematics Unit 2, Building and Mechanical Engineering Units 1 and 2, Green Energy Unit 2 and Geography Unit 1, among others.

Additionally, Hussain said that a 75 per cent and higher pass rate was recorded in 40 of the units offered, with improved performances recorded in areas like agricultural science, which shot up to 91 per cent, and applied mathematics which went up from 88 per cent to 100 per cent, geography from 95 to 100 per cent, and economics from 81 per cent to 90 per cent.
Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, during her address, told students: “The fact that you made it to fifth form and or grade 11 and wrote these exams when we just came out of a pandemic that saw millions of children across the world exiting prematurely high school, means you are already a winner.”

She mentioned that the Government of Guyana has been putting measures in place to ensure that students who exit successfully and do well, can move on to tertiary training and education in any field that they desire.

Manickchand also said that the government is ensuring that there are programmes in place for students who did not exit secondary schools successfully, so as to ensure that this would not be the end of their academic journey.

“So, if you did well, great job, congratulations, if you did poorly, this is not the end of your academic journey… if you don’t want it to be the end of your academic journey,” she said.