Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
DATA RELEASED by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) have revealed an increase in the percentage of Jamaican students who passed mathematics and English language in the 2005 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).
According to the data, 54 per cent of the 36,051 students who sat the English Language examination gained grades one to three. This represents an increase of 15 per cent over last year and nine per cent over 2003.
Mathematics represents an 11 per cent increase with 36 per cent of the 33,088 students who sat the examination achieving grades one to three. But while only a quarter of students passed mathematics last year, the 2005 pass rate mirrored that of 2003.
Mathematics and English language are core subjects, which means that every student has to sit the examinations.
The overall pass rate for students is 60 per cent, up from 53 per cent last year.
Senator Noel Montieth, State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, welcomed the news of the increase in the performance of students in the core subjects.
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
Senator Montieth told The Gleaner that he was uncertain of the factors that contributed to the increased performance but noted that the intervention camps that were introduced by the Education Ministry may have assisted.
"Whatever the case may be, we are happy with the results," he said.
The intervention programme, which began in September, targeted 60 high schools and five technical high schools whose students have been consistently failing the CXC mathematics and English examinations, attaining grades four to six.
