Overall CSEC pass rate highest in three years

DPI, Guyana, Monday, August 20, 2018

The 2018 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination results recorded the highest overall pass percentage in three years.

According to the Ministry of Education’s statistics, 12,269 candidates were registered as compared to last year’s 12,684. An analysis of the 2018 results reveals a 69.1 percent in Grades One to Three overall passes in General and Technical proficiencies. This marks a 5.3 percent increase in overall passes compared to last year’s 63.8 percent.

Over the years, there has been a constant increase in passes in English Language and Mathematics. In 2015, English Language recorded an overall pass percentage of 49.36 percent but this has increased over the years to 63.39 percent in 2016, 63.8 percent in 2017 and then 67.14 percent in 2018.

However, the improvements in Mathematics have been less conclusive. In 2015, Mathematics recorded an overall pass rate of 45.07 percent but declined in 2016 when a 38.37 percent overall pass was recorded. In 2017, the pass percentage remained stagnant at 39.23 percent. The pass rate increased in 2018 to 43.39 percent.

There have also been significant improvements in other subject areas such as Caribbean History, Geography and Foreign Languages.

2015 recorded a 59.7 percent and 53.59 percent in Caribbean History and Geography, respectively. The numbers increased to 66.04 percent and 61.9 percent in 2016. Caribbean History recorded 71.72 percent in 2017 while Geography declined to 56.73 percent.  2018 recorded a dramatic increase in the overall passes for Geography with 72.19 percent while the overall passes for Caribbean History remained stagnant at 71.94 percent.

Spanish and French have seen significant improvements over the last few years. Spanish, which recorded a 60.51 percent overall pass in 2015, increased to 66.33 percent in 2016 but declined in 2017 when it recorded an overall pass percentage of 58.08 percent. In 2018, it increased to 71.94 percent overall passes.

French has seen improvements in its overall pass rates. In 2017, the foreign language recorded its highest overall pass percentage in the last three years at 80%. In 2015, it recorded 54.96 percent and in 2018 was 79.86 percent.

By: Anara Khan

Chart:  Department of Public Information