- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 18/Aug 03:29

Kudos to CXC’s ‘covid19 class’

WITH A HIGHER percentage of students receiving five or more CSEC passes with English A and mathematics – at a rate that exceeds the regional average – and a higher percentage of students passing overall, it is safe to say 2025 is a successful round of results. That is even more heartening because this cohort of students has been described by education officials as the “covid19 class.” They began secondary school in the same year the pandemic struck; for vast swathes of their education, all they knew were the profound distortions of that experience. Covid19 is largely behind us. But the inequalities within the education system, both pre- and post-pandemic, linger. The CSEC results, because they are more widespread than the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) – the results of which were also released on August 15 – provide insight into the gaps. There continues to be wildly different outcomes across the range of subject areas, with bedrock subjects falling behind newer areas of study, some of which, like green engineering, saw 100 per cent pass rates. A case in point is mathematics. While pass rates rose to 45.9 per cent from 42.6 per cent, this is still too low. “CSEC mathematics continues to be a major area of concern,” Minister of Education Dr Michael Dowlath confirmed to this newspaper on Friday. Regionally, the problem is even more severe, with the rate being just 38.5 per cent, according to CXC official Dr Nicole Manning. She also noted languages are another problem area, but this country is doing better on that front, with English A improving to 80.7 per cent, up from 78.4 per cent. More detailed breakdowns will allow further analysis, but another area of worry remains the gender gap. Regionally, more girls are sitting examinations, with 58 per cent of the candidates for CSEC being female and 62 per cent of the candidates for CAPE. Among this country’s academically gifted students experiencing financial challenges who won bursaries, girls outnumber boys 60 per cent to 40 per cent. By this stage, it is trite knowledge that females outperform males. But this is still important to track because of what it reveals about wider disparities in all areas of society, from the workplace to the crime phenomenon. The meeting of education ministers due on October 28 in Jamaica will be an opportunity for such issues to be ventilated. It will also be a forum to examine other developments, such as the role of AI and the need for curriculum reform. For now, we offer congratulations to students on a job well done. Unlike previous years, there is no suggestion of grade inflation and pass rates have gone up. The post Kudos to CXC’s ‘covid19 class’ appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.