62 Tobago candidates get zero subjects

Tobago has experienced a remarkable increase in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, when compared to previous years, according to Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary and Secretary of Education, Innovation and Energy Kelvin Charles.

Charles speaking with Newsday Tobago on Wednesday said that of the 921 candidates; 487 female and 434 male students who sat this years’ examination in 32 subjects, 62 entrants got zero subjects.

“In 2017, 10.7 per cent, 92 of the students acquired no passes, however in this year’s assessment there has been a magnificent shift as only 6.7 per cent, 62 of the students got no passes,” he said, recalling that in 2017, there were 856 candidates; 462 female and 394 male,” he said.

This comes on the heels of a recent admission by Minister of Education, Anthony Garcia that of the 21,520 TT candidates wrote the exam, 1,486 scored no pass marks.

Charles said that seven out of the nine secondary schools on the island had an improvement in their pass rate this year, bringing a rate of 77.7 per cent at the schools.

“The district has moved from a pass rate of 30.5 per cent in 2012 to 42.3 per cent in 2018. This was an upward movement of 11.8 per cent. Additionally, this year 271 students attained 5 or more passes including Mathematics and English A. This was a significant increase from the 254 students who were successful in this category last year,” he said.

With regards to pass rate by subject entries, Charles said that this year, there were 5243 subject entries, which represent a growth over the previous year with 5131 subject entries.

“Passing grades (Grades I, II & III) were obtained in 62.9 per cent, 3302 of the subject entries in this year’s assessment. This was a marked improvement from the 59.5 per cent, 3053 of the subject entries which achieved passing grades in 2017,” he said.

With that he noted that improvements were seen in 15 subject areas:

Mathematics (46.5%)

English A (69.0%)

Caribbean History (68.9%)

Social Studies (54.2%)

Religious Education (90.9)

Spanish (59.2%)

French (80.5%)

Human and Social Biology (49.7%)

Physics (44.7%)

Chemistry (40.8%)

Biology (60.3%)

Clothing and Textiles (73.1%)

Industrial Technology (Building Component) (52.9%)

Information Technology (79.7%)

Technical Drawing (73.7%)

While, Pass rates in 16 subjects were greater than 60 per cent.

English A (69.0%)

English B (77.5%)

Principles of Business (71.8%)

Caribbean History (68.8%)

Clothing & Textiles (73.1%)

French (80.5%)

Religious Education (90.0%)

Agriculture Science (Single Award) (78.0%)

Office Administration (69.1%)

Food & Nutrition (87.2%)

Physical Education and Sport (89.6%)

Information Technology (79.7%)

Technical Drawing (73.7%)

Theatre Arts (95.6%)

Electronic Document Preparation and Management (80.4%)

Biology (60.3%)