Guyana’s performance in English spikes, Maths tumbles

CSEC results

By Vahnu Manickchand

An analysis of the 2016 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examination (CSEC) results revealed a marginal increase in the overall pass rate but at the same time, student performance continues to fluctuate in the two compulsory subjects – Mathematics and English Language (A).
Speaking at the press conference on Wednesday at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) Building in Kingston, Georgetown, Chief Executive Officer – Nursery, Ingrid Trotman, disclosed that the Grade One to Three passes in English A recorded a significant improvement from last year’s performance; where the pass rate of 49.36 per cent was moved to 59.3 per cent in 2016.
As it relates to performance in Mathematics, she noted that there was a decline this year with a pass rate of 38.37 per cent when compared to the pass rate of 45.07 per cent recorded last year. While 2015 saw an increase in both subject areas, more than 50 per cent of the candidates who wrote the two subjects in 2014 failed.
To this end, the Education Ministry under the leadership of former Minister Priya Manickchand had announced a strategic plan in 2014 to improve student performance, “specifically targeting secondary Mathematics in a major way”. The plan was expected to monitor performances from the entrance to secondary school, right through to CSEC.
However when probed about this initiative at Wednesday’s press conference, Permanent Secretary Delma Nedd pointed out that while the Education Ministry is not satisfied with the performance in Mathematics, there is an overall decline in the subject across the Caribbean.
Nevertheless, the Permanent Secretary explained that the Ministry is yet to launch the pilot project, noting that it is awaiting the completion of the ongoing Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Education Sector to determine the way forward.
Nedd outlined that the pilot will be launched sometime next year following the conclusion of the CoI.
“We haven’t actively progressed on that pilot but we are awaiting the recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry… That inquiry is expected to conclude in December of this year and we are hoping that coming out of that inquiry, we will have recommendations going forward,” she stated.
This year’s CSEC saw an increase in the number of candidates who wrote the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examination. A total of 12,809 candidates wrote the examination, of which 35 per cent wrote the exams privately. The gender ratio shows that of the total, some 4677 candidates were males.
The overall pass rate in the General and Technical proficiencies for Grades One to Three this year was 63.39 per cent compared to 62.72 per cent in 2015.
Meanwhile, a total of 35 subjects were written by Guyanese candidates. Of these, the analysis results indicated excellent performances in 15 subjects where the Grades One to Three passes exceeded 75 per cent; while satisfactory performances were recorded in 18 subjects where the Grades One to Three passes exceeded 50 per cent.
However, the overall performance in Chemistry was unsatisfactory with a pass rate of 41.13 per cent. But excellent performances were recorded in Agriculture Science (SA), Agriculture Science (DA) and Biology. Significant improvement was noted in Biology and Physics performances, while Integrated Science declined. Human and Social Biology, on the other hand, showed improvement as well.
In the Business Education subjects, the performance in most of these subjects was satisfactory but excellent performances were recorded in both Information Technology (General) and Electronic Document Preparation and Management (EDPM).
Additionally, improved performances were recorded in Caribbean History and Geography. As it relates to Home Economics subjects, an increase was recorded in Food and Nutrition while satisfactory performance was recorded in Clothing and Textile and Home Economic Management.
In the industrial technology subjects, improved performance was noted in all subjects except Building Technology (Const) where the performance remained relatively constant. In the modern languages subjects, French recorded an excellent performance while Spanish recorded satisfactory performance.
Moreover, Music gained 100 per cent Grade One to Three pass in 2016, while Theatre Arts and Physical Education and Sport both recorded over 95 per cent Grade One to Three passes. Religious Education’s performance this year showed improvements but satisfactory performance was recorded in Visual Arts.