Mathematics pass rate remains below 50%, English saw marginal decline at CSEC

By Bibi Khatoon

Guyana saw a 63.68% pass rate with Grades 1- 3 at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examination, against 63.39% in 2016. Candidates’ performance in Mathematics remained consistent with previous years at 39.23%. However, there has been a decline in the performance of both English Language and Literature.

According to the comparisons released by the Ministry of Education on Tuesday, 10, 383 students wrote English Language and attained a pass rate of 57.99%, a decrease from 59.3% in 2016. Meanwhile, 2,446 persons sat Literature and attained a 44.45% pass rate, also a decline from 52.94% in 2016.

“These performances indicate that appropriate measure have to be taken to ensure overall improvement in the performance in all subject areas,” Education Minister, Nicolette Henry said.

According to Chief Education Officer, Marcel Hutson, a number of systems are being put in place to raise the overall standard of the local education system.

He outlined that “we have what we call the National Subject Committee and from the National Subject Committee, decisions are being made in terms of areas of weaknesses and strengths and that information is passed on to the Regional Subject Committee and by extension, schools are impacted…we have the Guyana Secondary improvement project.”

It was also noticed that the top Schools at this year’s exam was consistent with previous years. As such, the Ministry said more has to be done to reduce the disparities. 100% pass rate was only achieved in two subjects; those being Music and Theatre Arts, which is not offered in schools across the country.

Outstanding performances were obtained in 10 subjects where over 90% of students gained Grades (Grades 1 – 3).   There were improvements in the Grades 1 to 3 passes in Chemistry this year, as well as 14 other subjects. Business subjects Improvements were noted in all the business subjects for 2017.

The Technical and Vocational Education cluster of subjects all recorded improved performances. One new subject was offered this year, Portuguese with 83.04% of the entries achieving acceptable grades.