Only 18 per cent of students got five or more subjects, inclusive of Maths and English, in CSEC 2024

Only 18 per cent of Jamaican students who sat this year's Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams received five or more subjects, inclusive of Mathematics and English, Education Minister Fayval Williams has disclosed. 

This is a three percentage point decrease when compared to last year. 

Further, there was a decrease in the number of students who achieved passing grades in the CSEC Mathematics and English exams when compared with 2023. 

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Williams revealed that just 33 per cent of students obtained a passing grade in maths, while 74 percent of students passed English.

This is a decrease of eight and two percentage points respectively when compared with 2023. 

However, the education minister cautioned against the maths pass rate for this year being compared with the 41 per cent achieved in 2023.

She noted that the two breaches in the 2023 exams forced the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to modify its approach where students were graded based on their SBAs and paper one. 

Instead, she said the comparison should be made with 2022, where students were able to sit all components of the maths exam where students in public schools achieved a pass rate of 37. 2 per cent. 

“Obviously at that level we are not satisfied with the performance of our students in their maths exams and so we here at the Ministry of Education and Youth, we have to redouble our efforts, we have to have an emergency plan for maths to help students,” she said. 

Williams also noted that some 33,235 students from public schools were registered for CSEC exams of which 31,660 sat and 26,934 passed at least one subject. 

Meanwhile, she shared that the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) had some 43,661 students sitting exams, and had an average pass rate of 90 per cent across Unit one and Unit two.

Data released by CXC last Tuesday also showed fewer students receiving passing grades in the CSEC mathematics and English language exams across the region when compared with last year.

Only 36 per cent of students across the region received passing grades for mathematics, a seven percentage point decrease when compared with 2023, while 76 per cent of students who sat English A received grades one to three, a two percentage point decrease.

- Sashana Small

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