St. Kitts and Nevis records highest ever CXC national pass rate

Minister of Education, Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, SEPTEMBER 1ST 2010 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis has recorded the highest ever national pass rate in the 2010 June CSEC (CXC) Examinations.

This is according to Minister of Education, Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty.

In his first report on the annual exams since his appointment as Minister of Education in February this year, Minister Carty said 745 students, an increase of 10 percent over 2009, sat the exams in June 2010.

“There were 4,188 subject entries, of which 3,499 returned passing grades for a national average pass rate of 82.11 percent, compared to, 79.84 percent in 2009 and an average of 76.8 percent over the past 4 years,” said Minister Carty.

He said English Language or English A has continued to improve, with a national pass rate this year of 79.2 percent and Mathematics, although still nowhere near satisfactory in our view, has returned a national pass rate of 51 percent, which is above the regional average.

The Cayon High School entered the largest number of candidates – 123. High Schools entered an average of 115 percent of their form 5 enrolment for the 2010 CSEC exams.

“Some schools have been doing a good job at giving borderline students a greater opportunity to sit the CSEC exams and leave High School with a CXC certificate. This is to be encouraged,” said Minister Carty, who added that for this and other reasons, the Ministry has taken a decision not to include individual schools average pass rates in this broadcast.

“The message is, quality is important but there is also great merit in getting more students to write the CSEC exams. On this note, we commend the Cayon High School for its efforts to afford more students an opportunity,” said Mr. Carty.

He said the Washington Archibald High School registered the second highest number of candidates and the highest number of subject entries. The highest number of Grade 1 passes, 172, was returned by that same school.

At the Basseterre High School, 100 students offered themselves in 28 subject areas. “I am pleased to report that all subjects returned pass rates of over 50 percent, with 17 subjects returning 100 percent passes.

The Cayon High School entered 123 students in 25 subjects with most subjects turned out fairly satisfactory performance. Four of them obtained 100 percent passes.

He said Spanish, Physics, Mathematics, Geography, Caribbean History and Visual Arts returned passes of less than 40 percent. “The results for Visual Arts were particularly unsatisfactory because there were no passes whatsoever,” said the Minister of Education, who added that the Principal and management team of the Cayon High School are therefore required to take note and to quickly get to the bottom of the causative factors.

“2011 must be better, with all the relevant support from the Ministry,” said Minister Carty.

At the Charlestown Secondary School, there were 112 candidates in 26 subject areas. All subjects returned a pass rate of over 50 percent, with eight subjects obtaining a 100 percent pass rate.

The St. Theresas Convent School entered 49 students in 16 subject areas. Performance was generally good except in Chemistry and Geography. Six subjects returned 100 percent passes.

Ninety (90) candidates at the Gingerland High School offered themselves for the CSEC exams in 27 subject areas. With the exception of Mathematics, all other subject obtained fairly satisfactory pass rates, including 10 subjects with 100 percent passes.

At the Sandy Point High School, 85 students sat exams in 26 subjects. All subjects returned passes of over 50 percent, of which 14 attained a pass rate of 100 percent, said Minister Carty. He highly commended the SPHS for returning a pass rate of 70.3 percent in Mathematics. This is very good indeed.

There were 62 students taking the CSEC exams in 23 subject areas at the Verchilds High School. Ten subjects returned 100 percent passes. Performance in Visual Arts and Mathematics were unsatisfactory, especially Visual Arts which returned 0 passes.

“This is the second school where this has happened. Clearly, the teaching/learning of Visual Arts in our secondary schools requires some attention,” said Minister Carty.

The Washington Archibald High School entered 115 students in 29 subject areas. All of the subjects performed fairly satisfactorily. Eleven subjects obtained 100% passes.