17th August 2012, St. John’s Antigua- Despite a marginal four per cent decline in Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results, Education Ministry stakeholders say they are “very pleased” with the overall scores.
“We are very pleased with the quality of passes and the number of passes,” Minister of Education, Dr Jacqui Quinn Leandro said at the unveiling of May and June’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) results yesterday at the National Archive building.
Out of the 2,106 CSEC candidates that sat the exam, 68.3 per cent obtained passes, in contrast to the 72 per cent of Antigua & Barbuda’s students that passed last year.
However, Dr Quinn Leandro noted that excluding the learning centres and only accounting for secondary school students, the number was higher, at 71.9 per cent passes. Leandro was quick to note that she was not “going to say that the centres brought down the average.”
The minister said that it was important to present the “unvarnished” and “unadulterated” facts to the people of the country so they can “assess the state of our human capital in an accurate way.”
The secondary students encompassed 22 institutions, 17 of which were secondary schools and five were learning centres. The students tested in 33 subject areas.
The total number of grade 1 passes was 11.5 per cent, grade 2 passes were 26 per cent and grade three totals were 30.8 per cent.
Close attention was paid to the results of math and English. Math scores decreased by 2 per cent and are now 27 per cent and English A results plummeted by a whopping 22 per cent.
However, Dr Leandro noted the decline in English is attributed to a new syllabus introduced last year, saying, “There has been a decline as teachers become acclimatised to this new English syllabus”
The most anticipated part of the presentation was the name of the countries top students.
The top CSEC student is Joel Issa Osaze Beazer from Antigua Grammar School. Beazer achieved 14 grade ones in 14 subject areas, he also earned another grade one that was taken privately rounding off his total number of subjects to 15.
Rounding out the top five consecutively is Sean Theodore Frederick from Baptist Academy, Arize Sabien Charles Lee from Antigua Grammar School, Cassandra Yvonne Vital from Christ the King high school and Lionel Fullerton of St Joseph academy.
The top preforming schools in order were Baptist Academy with 100 per cent of students passing and ten students sitting, followed by Antigua Girls High School with 95.5 per cent and 109 students sitting, Island Academy with 94.6 per cent and ten students sitting, St Joseph Academy with 92.7 per cent and 54 students sitting and Christ the King with 92.2 per cent and 49 students sitting.
Antigua & Barbuda’s students excelled in Information Technology (IT), with 91.4 per cent passing the examination. The minister noted that the number was “well above” the regional statistics.
The prestigious Island Scholar Award went to Antigua State College’s Adia Crump, who sat the CAPE examinations. Crump passed with two grade 1’s and 2 grade 2’s. She is the first island scholar since 2010, as there was no scholar awarded in 2011.
Joining Crump in the top five performing CAPE students on island are Jeniece St Romaine, Shakeema Edwards, Jamal Solomon and Lamoy James.
The pass rate for CAPE this year was 80 per cent, a 3 per cent decrease from last year with 1,821 college-aged students sitting the CAPE exam in 41 subject areas.
In stark contrast to the CSEC students, the CAPE students’ mathematical scores were referred to as “exceptional.”
Seventy three per cent passed in pure math unit 2, which was a 20 per cent increase from last year. There was a 5 per cent increase in applied math, which boosted a 65 per cent pass rate. Unit 2 applied maths came in at a 76 per cent pass rate.
Along with Dr Quinn Leandro, CXC registrar Myrick Smith, Education Officer in charge of mathematics, Caron Weston and the statistician who prepared the report, Reuel James sat on the panel.
