Females outperform males at CPEA

The Ministry of Education will soon be looking into reasons why females outperform males in national examinations.{{more}}

Results from the first sitting of the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) show that of 912 females, 798 or 87.50 per cent met the required standard, while of 1,022 males, 712 or 69.67 per cent met the required standard.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, chief education officer Lou-Anne Gilchrist declared that the trend of females doing better than males is one that is observed not only at the primary level, but at the secondary level as well.

“We have to look at the gender differentials in education. We have to ensure that we provide adequately for our boy children, while not forgetting the girl child. There are issues specifically related to the male student and the female student which we have to address…even starting at the early childhood education level,” she said.

Gilchrist acknowledged that, so far, the Ministry has not paid as much attention as they should to the gender differentials, but noted that it is something that must be looked into.

“I know that in some cases, attendance at school might be a problem, poor attendance, but it is not so in maybe not in many cases,” the chief education officer said.

“I have to admit that we have not paid enough attention to the gender differentials at this point, but we have to, absolutely have to because we are seeing the trend.”