This country’s education minister, Curtis King says just over 661 non-attendance for CSEC subjects were recorded in the July/September examinations last year.

And of this amount, 284 were recorded by private candidates. 

“Over the past three years, especially in the January sittings, there has been a constant recurring theme of absenteeism by candidates throughout the Caribbean,” King said during the Questions for Oral Answers segment of the March 24 meeting of Parliament. 

He said the issue of absenteeism is a concern for the Ministry of Education and it will continue working to reduce the number of candidates not being present for examinations. 

The education minister however explained that non-attendance refers to the number of subjects for which there are recorded absences. 

Giving an example, King said “if you have one student who is signed up to write eight subjects, and that student fails to turn up for four of his subjects, then you have four cases of non-attendance for the subjects, but one student”. 

“I’m making this point because some people are in fact giving the impression that non-attendance for subject writing, or subject sitting, equates to the number of students who are not turning up for their exams,” he said. 

In cases where reasons were provided for students’ absence sitting a particular subject, candidates indicated that they were ill on the date of the exam, while others turned up on the wrong date. 

Others have indicated that they did not feel prepared enough to write the exam and others cited lack of sufficient resources to prepare. 

“I wish to use this opportunity to encourage all students to prepare themselves adequately for their upcoming examinations in 2022 and of course, for other future examinations,” King said, adding that a plethora of resources can be accessed via the Curriculum Development Unit website and the CXC’s Learning Hub.