While Guyana is the overall top performer at this year’s Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations, the country has seen a notable decline in performance compared to previous years.
Guyana recorded results higher than the regional average, 87%, with 88% for 20 of 33 subject areas offered by CXC. However, Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Education, Dr Marcel Hutson, on Friday told a briefing at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development, at Kingston, Georgetown, that Guyana had a decline in pass rates for several subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
Education Minister Priya Manickchand has said that the decline is relative to all territories and that the ministry will continuously attempt to rectify the difficulties faced by the education system.
According to Dr Hutson, a total of 9,808 candidates were registered here for the 2021 CSEC examination as compared to 12,009 registered for 2020. Subject entries for 2021 were 61,437. An analysis of the 2021 preliminary results revealed that the overall pass rate at the General and Technical proficiencies for Grades One to Three was 66.36%, with improved performance evident in four (4) subjects and remaining constant in six (6) subjects. Outstanding performances were noted in eight (8) subjects where 90% and over gained acceptable Grades (Grades 1 to 3). Some subjects with outstanding performances were Agricultural Science (Double Award) with 93.14%, Information Technology with 92.59 %, Physical Education & Sports with 99.28% and Theatre Arts with 100 %.
As previously reported by this newspaper, a 68% pass rate with acceptable grades were seen for English Language and 31% for Mathematics. The CEO noted that this was a decline from the 78% and 48% for the respective subjects in 2020. English B recorded a pass rate of 53% and Additional Mathematics recorded a pass rate of 58.87 % in 2021. The sciences also saw a decline in the pass rate. Agricultural Science DA pass rate for 2021 is 93.14% and SA pass rate is 93.36%. Performances declined in all the sciences except for Human and Social Biology, which showed an increased performance in 2021 with 73.24% as against 2020 with a pass rate of 59.17%. Biology moved from 83.47 % in 2020 to 75.39% in 2021. Chemistry recorded a pass rate of 60.94% in 2021 as against 71.6 % in 2020. Physics moved from a pass rate of 80.63% in 2020 to 61.99% in 2021. Integrated Science recorded a pass rate of 68.58% in 2021 as against 79.75% in 2020.
Business subjects faced a similar fate. Passes in Principles of Accounts dropped from 79.28% in 2020 to 71.57% in 2021. Economics recorded a pass rate of 66.88% in 2021 as against 72.07% in 2020. The Office Administration pass rate showed a decline from 87% in 2020 to 79.62% in 2021. But, “an improved performance was evident in Caribbean History with a pass rate of 70.73% in 2021 as against 64.49% in 2020. The pass rate in Geography moved from 76.26% in 2020 to 60.57% in 2021. Passes in Religious Education remained constant with a pass rate of 89.08%. Social Studies saw a pass rate of 52.27% in 2021,” the ministry informed. The performance in Theatre Arts recorded a pass rate of 100% in 2021. Visual Arts’ pass rate moved from 71% in 2019, to 78.81% in 2020 and 77.89% in 2021.
Textiles, Clothing and Fashion recorded an improved performance of 93.11% in 2021 as against 86.95% in 2020. Food Nutrition and Health moved from 92.38% in 2020 to 85.53% in 2021. Family and Resource Management also moved from 86.37% in 2020 to 75.81% in 2021. Industrial Technology-Electrical recorded a pass rate of 90.12% in 2021 and Industrial Technology-Building recorded a pass rate of 96.87% in 2021. French recorded a pass rate 61.63% in 2021 as against 77.61% in 2020. Portuguese recorded a constant pass rate of 78.41% in 2021 while Spanish sank from 66.62% in 2020 to 56.27% in 2021.
At the CAPE level, 723 candidates from ten secondary schools and four private centres wrote the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination in Guyana. The ministry’s report stated that the overall pass rate was 91%.
In her remarks after the reading of the report on the exams, Manickchand said that there is room for improvement. She noted that there are obvious differences with each school and the resources that each school has, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made that more apparent. She further described the decline as a regional issue brought on by the different ways that countries were impacted by the pandemic, among other issues. “We don’t have the choice of being soft in this pursuit. I think we have done extraordinarily well in the circumstances,” the minister added.
It was also observed, that unlike the 2020 results which had several discrepancies, there hasn’t been as many request for reviews with this year’s results. She pointed out that queries are made every year and the number of review requests are back to the amount seen in previous years, while disclosing that over 60 individuals have made requests thus far. She also stated her belief that the monitoring of schools helped to ensure that the issues seen last year were avoided and that schools need to start letting students know how many marks they are entering the exam with, meaning that the School Based Assessment (SBA) score should be disclosed to students before they write their exams.
Ministry of Education officials pose with the top performers of the CXC 2021 examinations (MoE photo)
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