Garcia: 1,486 TT students got zero CSEC passes

NEARLY 1,500 students who wrote the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exam in May and June from government and government-assisted secondary schools in TT received no passes.

This was revealed by Minister of Education Anthony Garcia who, in a brief interview with Newsday yesterday, said he was satisfied with the candidates’ performance when compared to the past eight years. He said his findings were based on basic details he has received.

“I can tell you that the performance of our students this year has been better than in previous years,” Garcia said.

In total, 21,520 TT candidates wrote the exam, out of which 16,042 were from government and government-assisted schools.

Of this figure, 1,486 scored no pass marks. Garcia said the rest of candidates sat the exam privately and, as such, fall out of the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education.

On Saturday, a function was hosted by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) at St George’s University Campus in Grenada to officially announce the overall performance of candidates in the region.

CXC registrar Glenroy Cumberbatch expressed concern over the 11,000 students who failed to secure the passing grade between I-III.

When contacted yesterday, Garcia said he was not yet able to share certain details which include the pass rates in their respective subjects, but assured that this was the best performing year for TT since 2010.

“We have not yet done a detailed analysis and when that detailed analysis has been completed, it will be taken to cabinet. What I can say is, I have been pleased with the performance of our students because in almost every subject area there has been an increase in their performance.

Students in TT received their results for CAPE exams from CXC’s online portal on Sunday. On Thursday, students will be able to access their CSEC results online.