Ministry of Education pleased with CSEC results

Another wave of students has cause to rejoice. According to Senior Education Officer Marcus Caine, this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Council (CSEC) results have shown significant improvement over those taken in 2007.{{more}} At a press conference held on Monday, 25th August, Minister of Education Girlyn Miguel encouraged all individuals involved, especially teachers, to continue assisting the youth with their educational endeavours. “Our young people need us to encourage them,” she insisted.

This year, a grand total of 3011 students were entered for CSEC examinations, compared with 2706 in 2007. The increased figure is due to the 2003 launch of the Education Revolution which saw an escalated intake of students at certain Secondary Schools – referred to by Ministry of Education officials as ‘the bulge’. With 11,647 subject entries in 32 different subject areas, there was an overall pass rate of 61.2%, which was a 2% increase on 2007. “Even with the bulge, the students have increased the percentage pass rate…” Caine enthused.

In his remarks, Caine divulged that there had only been two secondary Schools with over 80% passes. Namely: Girls’ High School, with a 93% pass rate, and St. Vincent Grammar School scoring 84%. Furthermore, he gave mention to St. Joseph’s Convent Kingstown – 73%, St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua – 67%, and Bishop’s College Kingstown – 58%. Several rural schools have been reported to have made significant improvements in their pass rates this year. Troumaca Ontario improved their pass rate by 13%, Emmanuel High School Mespo – 12%, and Mountain View Adventist Academy improved by 7%. Caine was quick to emphasise that it is more statistically meaningful when there are high numbers of subject entries coupled with high percentage passes, as opposed to low subject entries with high percentage passes.

Overall, 6% of students achieved grade ones, 21% got grade twos, and 33% with grade threes. Caine also made mention of some of the top performers in this year’s exams. Three students received 11 subjects with all grade ones, one student gained 12 subjects – 10 grade ones and 2 grade twos, several students earned 11 subjects with 9 grade ones and 2 grade twos, and lastly, one student received 9 subjects, scoring grade ones in each. Impressively, all of these top performers hail from GHS. “…the boys will eventually catch up,” Caine predicted.

Despite recording decreased performance in the Technical and Vocational subjects, as well as English Language, Caine announced that there has been significant improvement in many subject areas, including Math and Physics. The performance in Physics was particularly monumental because there had been a 48% pass rate in 2007, compared to a whopping 84% pass rate this year. (JSV)