Hours after the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) released the results of the 2022 CSEC and CAPE exams reporting a decline in the results for Maths and English, Guyana’s Ministry of Education said that this country showed improvements in both subjects.
The issue of low performance in Mathematics and English has long plagued the region.
Yesterday, Chief Education Officer (CEO) Marcel Hutson was the one who gave the report on Guyana’s performance at the examination. He said that a total of 10,368 candidates were registered for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) as compared to the 9,808 registered for 2021.
“…an analysis of the 2022 preliminary results revealed that the overall pass rate at the general and technical proficiencies for grades 1 to 3 was 68.5%. The overall pass rate for 2021 was 66.36%. The improved performance was evident in 20 subjects and remained constant in six subjects. Outstanding performances were noted in nine subjects where 90% and over gained acceptable grades one to three,” he reported.
The CEO said that for English, performance improved from 67.72% in 2021 to 70.84% in 2022. While the pass rate for mathematics moved from 31.6% to 34.26%.
“You know these are the important subjects for matriculation so you can go forward and do university with all these subjects right,” he lamented.
Additionally, improved performance was recorded in English B, where a pass rate of 53.45% was attained in 2021 and a pass rate of 72.47% in 2022. Additional Mathematics recorded a pass rate of 53.88% in 2022.
In the sciences, the Agriculture Science double award and single award continue to record pass rates over 90%. The Agriculture Sciences pass rate for 2022 is pegged at 99.43% as against 93.14% in 2021.
The Agriculture Science single award pass rate for 2022 is 95.56% and according to Hutson, performance improved in all the sciences except for Chemistry, which remained constant.
Biology showed an increased pass rate from 75.39% in 2021 to 82.17% in 2022. Physics moved from 61.99% in 2021 to 63.65% in 2022. Human and social biology showed a better performance in 2022 with 78.37% as against 2021 with a pass rate of 76.24%. Integrated Science recorded a pass rate of 72.26% in 2022. Chemistry recorded a pass rate of 60.94% in 2022.
Subjects in the business cognate except Economics recorded improved performances. Principles of Business recorded a pass rate of 78.41% in 2022 as against 75.16% in 2021 while principles of accounts moved from 71.57% in 2021 to 75.14% in 2022. Economics recorded a pass rate of 64.49% in 2022.
Hutson related that Office Administration and Electronic Documentation Preparation and Management (EDPM) recorded improved performances with the former moving from 79.62 to 85.06% in 2022. The EDPM pass rate was recorded at 90.09%.
He said that the pass rate for Caribbean History declined from 70.7% to just above 64%. Similar declines were recorded for a few subjects.
Getting it right
While both Hutson and Minister of Education Priya Manickchand made it clear that the results were preliminary and could be changed, the Minister also explained that they are engaging CXC to ‘get it right’.
“…but [we are] fighting with CXC to get back some of what we knew was incorrect. (The) preliminary results submitted to us had ungraded subjects. In fact, some of the students whose names I called here today will see ungraded next to their name if they were to open the portal now and we are still working with CXC because we know what we submitted.
“I just checked with the local registrar, Mrs Saudia Kadir and she’s just telling me no they have not finished returning all of the checks next to the ungraded subjects.
They’re still working on it. So it is possible that when students open their portals tonight, you’re going to see ungraded next to the subject you believe you did your best in and that you submitted everything for.
We will do as we did in 2020 [and] we will not leave you. We’re going to pursue every last grade until we get a fair and just resolution,” Manickchand said.
Back in 2020, thousands of students in the Caribbean had to contest their results after they received lower than expected grades and in some cases, ungraded.
The Minister also announced the results of the examinations (see story on page 8) and said that though some regions failed to make it on the list of students attaining 8 or more grade ones, they are also worth celebrating. She also took the time to explain that though some students wrote in excess of 12 subjects, it does not represent a large amount.
“Five subjects with Maths and English is matriculation for us and it is a remarkable success. So any student who does five subjects … inclusive of Maths and English we consider to have done very, very well. Excellently, in fact,” she added.
When asked for a full analysis of the performance by region, the Minister said that it will be there in the coming days. She also explained that the ministry will be posting the performance of each school next to their name on the website so that stakeholders can review each school’s performance.
Manickchand said that the programmes implemented by the government coupled with the fact that Guyana was the first Caribbean country to re-open schools for face-to-face learning is what contributed to the improved performance. She added that government is now looking to build on that success and further improve performances in the core subject areas.
CAPE
CEO Hutson said that 671 candidates from 12 Secondary Schools and 4 private centres wrote the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) in Guyana. He added that there were 17 examination centres spread across the region.
The CEO reported that the overall pass rate for the CAPE examination has improved from 90.86% in 2021 to 93.22% in 2022. It was also the first time that CAPE was being written at the Anna Regina Multilateral School and West Demerara Secondary.
Candidates took Units in 33 subject areas. Each Unit comprises three modules equivalent to 150 credit hours and is separately examined and certified. The results for CAPE are reported on a seven-point scale – Grades 1 – VII. Candidates attaining Grades 1 – V have attained an acceptable standard for matriculation purposes, with Grade One representing an excellent performance, while Grade Two and Three represent very good and good standards of performance respectively.
“An improved performance was recorded in Integrated Mathematics from 78.67% in 2021 to 83.67% in 2022. And that is commendable in light of how people view mathematics. Pure Mathematics Units 1 and 2 recorded improved performances in 2022. Pure Mathematics Unit 1 moved from 58.89% in 2021 to 65.35% in 2022. Pure Mathematics Unit 2 recorded a pass rate of 80.95% in 2022 as against 74.17% in 2021. Caribbean Studies and Communication Studies continue to record an over 90% pass rate,” Hutson stated.
