At the recent announcement of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results, the Education Ministry has disclosed that over 600 students recorded zero passes.
This revelation was made on Friday afternoon at the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) building in the company of the Education Minister Nicolette Henry, the Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson and other ministry officials.
The Chief Education Officer explained that the figure covered only students in the public schools who were unable to secure a grade one, two or three.
However Hutson noted that the results show that Guyana is on a development trajectory.
“It’s not exactly where we want to be but we are moving anyhow so I think that is what is significant in the education sector and I would want to attribute the movements to some behaviour patterns that we have seen in the education sector” the Education Officer noted.
Despite this disclosure the overall pass rate in mathematics and English language has improved when compared to last year’s statistics.
“Overall performances in English “A” increased by 9%, in English “B” we had a very commendable increase of 34% and Mathematics saw an increase of 4%” Minster Henry revealed.
Apart from these numbers, there were also increased pass rates in biology, chemistry, physics while agricultural science double and single award recorded declining statistics.
Improved performances were noted in the business subjects with office administration, principle of business, accounts and electric documentation preparation and management.
Industrial technology building, electrical and mechanical and electrical all secured passes over 85 per cent.
Some 12,266 candidates were registered to sit the CSEC examinations this year, which shows a decline when compared to 12,684 candidates in 2017.
The Ministry of Education reported a 69.1 per cent pass rate at CSEC examinations up from 63.68 percent in 2017.
Topping the list this year is Queen’s College student, Christian Pile with 19 Grade Ones followed by Shakira Bholo of the Anna Regina Multilateral school with 18 Grade Ones and two Grade Twos.
Pile in an interview with this publication indicated that he was surprised at the results, but said he was somewhat certain that he would have excelled.
Filled with joy and pride at his achievement, the young lad added, “I was really happy, overjoyed (and) really proud of myself. I knew I would have done really well at the exams, I just didn’t know that I would be the top student. My mom, she was really the driving force: she inspired me; she built my confidence; she made me know that I had the ability to do great things; so, basically, she told me why not try to challenge yourself.”
Balancing his time was one of the most important aspects of this successful outcome, and Pile explained that some of it included lessons and numerous hours of studying.
Plans for the aspiring orthodontist include attending sixth form this year.
