Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 16, 2014 News
Although Guyana saw a nine per cent increase from last year in its performance of Mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC) examination, this level of performance is clearly detailed in the Ministry’s analysis as unsatisfactory.
The Grade One to Three pass rate for Mathematics this year recorded 38.7 per cent; an increase from the 28.92 per cent in 2013.
Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, on Tuesday eagerly touted the performance as the best that the country has ever seen, as she officially announced the 2014 CSEC results at the Kingston, Georgetown, National Centre for Education Resource Development.
But according to the analysis of the results, Mathematics is among four subject areas that recorded unsatisfactory performances. This is in light of the fact, that Grade One to Three passes in the subject areas are less than 50 per cent. In addition to Mathematics, the unsatisfactory performances were recorded in English A, Music and Visual Arts.
The Grade One to Three performances in English A this year, recorded a marginal increase from 45.69 per cent in 2013 to 46.98 per cent in 2014.
However, Minister Manickchand, in responding to questions on the way forward in addressing the poor performances, made it clear that Mathematics should not have been categorised as unsatisfactory. In fact she pointed out that the analysis of the examination is done by the Superintendent of Examination, Ms Sauda Kadir. “I would not have listed Mathematics, given the kind of moves we have made over the years, this year as unsatisfactory…however, for us every subject that didn’t get 100 per cent we’re not satisfied with; there is work to be done in those subjects,” asserted the Minister.
According to her, “we really usually want to see as many children as possible passing.”
She continued that the subject areas that Guyana has recorded poor performances in, are not dissimilar from that of other Caribbean territories that undertake the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) facilitated examinations. “The entire Caribbean Region, all over, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, St Lucia, Grenada, wherever you are in the Region, these are the subjects that are causing a lot of struggles…they are causing a lot of struggles all over the world,” said the Education Minister.
Insisting that Guyana has been increasingly performing well in Mathematics, the Minister reflected on her time as a student at Queen’s College when she was among a mere 16 per cent who passed the subject area at CXC. The Minister also recalled that she was in an even smaller group of 13 per cent who passed English. “I didn’t realise that I was among such a small cohort…Why is that? Let’s face it, it’s because we are not used to talking about these things yet…”
Moreover, the Minister noted that the whole performance cycle is in fact a journey. “These subjects have come a long way from 16 per cent, we are now at 39 per cent,” said the Minister even as she warned that “it is very easy to slip back and so we have to make sure that what we do in all of the schools is proper management and so on.”
And ensuring that the performances in areas such as Mathematics are continually improved, the Minister said that attention must not only be focused on the CSEC level but at the lower levels as well.
Efforts in this regard, the Minister said, will be boosted when the Ministry launches its new five-year Strategic Plan for literacy next month. Added to this, a new nursery programme will cater to ensuring that children are more aware of what they should know ahead of entering the primary schools.
The nursery programme will be implemented even as moves are made to give more attention to the primary programme in order to give children a good foundation to prepare them for the secondary level.
Further still, the Ministry is currently contemplating rolling out to all secondary schools, a pilot programme started by the Minister at the start of her tenure to improve performances in the areas of Mathematics and English. “There are serious efforts going on quietly, behind closed doors, to look at how we could not just get good grades in Mathematics and English but sustain them, improve them…” To advance these grades, the Minister said, “Is a constant effort.”
But the ambitious expectations, she offered, is certainly not one that the Ministry can accomplish alone. Rather, she said that it requires the keen involvement of the management of the schools, Heads of Department, supervisors, teachers in the classrooms, students, as well as their parents. “So it is a big partnership that has to happen to make sure that we do what we want to do with these subject areas,” said the Minister.
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