Education Ministry slams AFC leader again for spreading inaccuracies

…says Region 9 CSEC pass rate is 48.5%, not 10% as claimed

The Education Ministry has debunked claims made by the Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes, who recently told the media that the Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) pass rate for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations for 2024 is merely 5 percent.
On Wednesday, the Ministry indicated that the region’s pass rate is actually 48.5 percent, reflecting the performance of individual schools. Providing clarity, the Education Ministry disclosed that the pass rate for St. Ignatius Secondary School is 56.3 percent, Annai Secondary School is 46.2 percent, Aishalton Secondary School is 44.5 percent, and others range down to 29.7 percent.
In a recent press conference, Hughes claimed that Region Nine recorded a 90 per cent failure rate at the 2024 CSEC examinations, and that is something he believes is a national crisis. Contrary to figures published by the Education Ministry, the AFC Leader had claimed that St Ignatius Secondary and Aishalton Secondary recorded an eight percent pass rate, while Annai Secondary copped seven percent, Sand Creek Secondary six percent, Karasabai Secondary two percent and Katoka Secondary three percent.
Further, Hughes stated that the ‘crisis’ is compounded by the fact that there are no vocational plans in place to offer training for the 95 percent of students who are now finished with their secondary education but are still unqualified.
The Education Ministry has since urged the public and the press to regard statements made by Hughes and the AFC with skepticism, unless there is official verification from official sources.
“The Government of Guyana is committed to enhancing the educational landscape by increasing school infrastructure, ensuring access to quality furniture, training teachers, providing essential textbooks and school meals, and expanding the learning channel across communities. Politicians are urged to avoid spreading misinformation about education, as it undermines the nation’s progress and wellbeing of its learners”, the MoE has said.
This is not the first time the Ministry of Education has had to correct Hughes on matters relative to schools in the interior. Hughes had come under fire last Tuesday for claiming on social media that the students of a hinterland school were without a school building. That claim was quickly debunked by members of the public and by Education Minister Priya Manickchand.
The school in question, Toka Primary in North Rupununi, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), currently has a fully equipped building, complete with satellite dishes. Despite this, Hughes shared a photo of the students being taught in the outdoors, falsely claiming that they were without a building.
At first Hughes claimed “The primary school children from Toka have no school building, so they are being taught outdoors under the cashew tree”, and he had posted that claim together with pictures of the students learning in the outdoors. He subsequently changed his caption to “nursery school children.”
However, a number of social media users uploaded pictures showing that Toka Primary School indeed exists. Further pictures were uploaded, showing that there are both primary and nursery schools in the community.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand has issued a stinging rebuke to Hughes, noting in a social media post that, “People know what’s up! If you have to lie to get votes, then you clearly don’t have a plan to make people’s lives better.”

Overall performance
Back in August, when the Ministry of Education had reported on the performance at this year’s CSEC, Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain revealed that Guyana’s overall pass rate had slightly declined from 67.37 percent in 2023 to 63.23 percent in 2024.
While there was a notable increase in performance across 12 subjects and a 90 percent pass rate was recorded in seven subjects, English A saw a slight decline, dropping from 72 percent in 2023 to 69 percent in 2024. There had also been a decline recorded in Mathematics, another critical subject for many, with pass rate falling from 34 percent in 2023 to 31 percent in 2024.
Nevertheless, Guyana maintained a stable pass rate at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) 2024, according to the country’s Chief Education Officer, Saddam Hussain.
In 2024, 721 students wrote CAPE from 13 secondary schools and four private centres across Guyana, compared to 701 students in 2023.
During his presentation, Hussain announced that the overall pass rate for Guyana is 92.5 per cent when compared to 93 percent in 2023.
The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) had also announced that there was a regional decline in the overall pass rate for both the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).
Director of Operations, Examination Services Division at CXC, Dr. Nicole Manning, during the announcement of the results, said the overall regional performance for CAPE was 92.19 percent, which she describes as a “slight reduction” when compared to 2023.
For CSEC, there was an overall performance of 69 percent, slightly consistent with the performance of 2023. (G1)