A Girls’ High School student is St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ top performer in this year’s Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Secondary Education Certificate Examinations (CSEC).
Ianà Y. R. Fergusson achieved 19 passes, including 18 Grade I’s and one Grade II.
Three students obtained 13 subject passes, four students gained 12 subject passes and 31 students gained 11 subject passes, the Ministry of Education said in its preliminary results released on Tuesday, but did not name the students or their school.
In addition to having the top student performer, GHS was also the top performing school for SVG in the examinations, achieving a pass rate of 95.56 per cent.
The all-girls school was one of five schools nationally to record a percentage pass rate of 80 per cent and above.
The St. Joseph’s Convent achieved a pass rate of 90.64 per cent; St. Vincent Grammar School, 87.56 per cent; Thomas Saunders Secondary School, 86.06 per cent and St. Martin’s Secondary School, 82.29 per cent.
Ten other schools obtained what the Ministry of Education said were “creditable pass rates” of between 60 and 80 per cent.
They are: St. Joseph’s Convent (Marriaqua), 79.34 per cent; Bequia Seventh-day Adventist School 77.27 per cent; Mountain View Adventist Academy, 74.19 per cent; Bishop’s College Kingstown, 72.96 per cent; West St. George Secondary School, 70,04 per cent; Georgetown Secondary School, 65.92 per cent; North Union Secondary School, 63.7 per cent; Barrouallie Secondary School, 63.43 per cent; Troumaca Secondary School, 62.44 per cent and Emmanuel High School Mesopotamia, 60.74 per cent.
The Georgetown Secondary School recorded the most significant improvement, moving from 45.76 per cent in 2016 to 65.92 percent this year, an improvement of 20.16 per cent.
This year, 2,674 candidates from St. Vincent and the Grenadines registered for the examinations, with 1,093 of them being private candidates, while 1,581were school candidates.
There were 1563 school candidates sitting 10,982 subject entries in 33 subject areas, from 26 secondary schools.
Approximately 73.25 per cent of the subject entries were awarded Grades I to III.
The figure represents a year-on-year decrease in the number and also a fall compared to 2015.
The figures were 74.66 per cent in 2016 and 75.15 per cent in 2016.
This year, 11.4 per cent of the passes were at Grade I level, 27.33 per cent at Grade II and 34.56 per cent at Grade II.
This also represents a fall, compared to last year’s figures.
In 2016, 12.3 per cent of the passes were at Grade I level, 28.52 per cent at Grade II and 33.84 per cent at Grade II.
The Ministry of Education said it congratulates all students and extend gratitude to principals, teachers and staff at all schools for their support of the students.
“We are cognisant of the fact that outcomes in education are measured, not only in quantitative terms, but also in qualitative terms; therefore, the value added to this lives of all of the students, the top performers as well as those whose performances can be improved, is greatly appreciated, “ Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Morine Williams said in a press release.
“All principals continue to work diligently in conjunction with the Ministry of Education in support of their schools’ effectiveness and the students’ success,” she said.
If our dumbed-down and expanded curricula and grade inflation continue at the present rate, 10 years from now the top student will have 25 first grade subjects, which will be inflated to 50 subjects 10 years later.
Give me a […] break, people! Our children are going to school for longer and longer, earning more worthless paper credentials from year to year, learning less and less as the years pass, and getting fewer and fewer jobs in our homeland at the end of the road.
In our prevailing economic climate we need to know the proportion of students successfully completing secondary school with a minimum of 5 subjects at the CSEC level including Math, English, and a skilled subject.
Anthony Stewart, PhD
Union Island