Education Minister Fayval Williams - file photo
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Fayval Williams
Education Minister Fayval Williams says 89.6 per cent of public school students in Jamaica who sat this year's Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) received passing grades.
According to the minister, 88.8 per cent of candidates in private schools received satisfactory results.
A pass in CAPE ranges from grade one to five.
The Education Minister said there were improvements in the performance in five subjects among students in public schools this year compared to 2020.
They are Accounting, Animation and Game Design, Chemistry, Entrepreneurship, and Physical Education and Sport.
Mrs Williams noted that 294 entries in all 34 subject areas for Unit 1 and Unit 2 were deferred, meaning those students opted not to sit the exams at that time.
Performing Arts Unit 2, Music and Dance were not administered this year due to the pandemic.
The Education Minister said 85.8 per cent of the 27,789 students who sat Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams this year passed with grades one to three.
Exams were administered for 34 subjects.
Some 16,075 females sat the exams with 13,992 or 87 per cent awarded grades one to three in one or more subjects.
The number of males who sat the exams was 11,714, from which 9,768 or 83.4 per cent obtained grades one to three in one or more subjects.
Math problem
However, the Education Minister noted worryingly that Jamaica's public schools continue to record a low number of passes in Mathematics in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exam.
Mrs Williams disclosed that 38.2 per cent of students had a passing grade of one to three in this year's sitting of the exam.
The pass rate for English Language was better, however, at 73.3 per cent.
For Integrated Science, 57.2 per cent of students passed; Chemistry had a pass rate of 58.5 per cent; Physics was 61.7 per cent; Human and Social Biology had a 64.2 per cent pass rate; and 71.6 per cent of students passed Biology.
Mrs Williams gave the breakdown on Tuesday morning at a virtual media briefing.
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