Common Entrance records increase in passes

A number of innovative moves by the Ministry of Education may have been the reason for this year’s remarkable increase in passes in the Common Entrance Exams.{{more}}

At a press conference called by the Ministry of Education on Monday to announce the results of the 2007 examinations, education minister Girlyn Miguel announced a 60.89% pass rate for the 2,664 students who wrote the exam on June 1st.

This is a 19.59% increase over last year’s results.

The minister said the increase in numbers can be attributed to a number of strategies employed by the ministry, including providing the primary schools with resource materials, which, according to the minister, should have encouraged the students and teachers to work for longer periods at meaningful activities.

Miguel also suggested that writing the composition paper weeks before the exam day may have made the examination less stressful for the students and may have contributed to the increase in passes.

Of the 1,341 boys who wrote the exam, 678 (50.56%) met the required standard, and 929 (70.2%) of the 1324 girls were successful.

A 96.24% score put Utamu Rose of the St. Mary’s Roman Catholic School at the top of the list this year, with Lafeisha Hadley of the Georgetown Government School placing second with a total of 95.70% and Katherine Renton also of the St. Mary’s RC third with 94.62% third. Soleil Gonsalves of the Kingstown Preparatory School with 94.57% and Anson Latchman of the Georgetown Government School with 93.55% round out the top five.

The St. Mary’s RC took three of the top ten spots, with the Georgetown Government and Kingstown Preparatory securing two places, and the Stubbs, Cane End, Barrouallie and Troumaca Government schools taking one position each in the top ten.

Six students were tops in the individual disciplines: the Prep School’s Soleil Gonsalves gained 99.83% in English; Everson and Antonio Robertson of the Rose Hall Government School and Angelina Questelles of the Calliaqua Anglican School tied for the top score of 98.33% in Math, and in General Paper, Alrice Simmons of the Bequia Anglican and Latisha James of the Kingstown Government top scored with 98.33%.

Minister Miguel along with other education officials at the press conference congratulated the students, teachers, schools and parents for the high rate of passes at this year’s sitting. (JJ)