Less than 6 percent of Region 9 students passed CSEC- AFC

Last Updated on Saturday, 21 September 2024, 13:21 by Denis Chabrol

Less than 10 percent of students in Region Nine (Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo) passed the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations  in 2024, pointing to the urgent need to rescue the education sector in that southern Guyana region, the Alliance For Change (AFC) said Friday.

“This is a national crisis. It’s not a political crisis because  we cannot have any part of this country be subject to a fail rate of 90 percent after secondary school after spending five years,” he told a news conference.

The Ministry of Education did not immediately comment on the AFC’s statistics that were being shared for several days on Social Media before Friday’s news conference.

Saying he was relying on what  AFC Leader, Nigel Hughes said “I believe are the ministry’s figures”, he said an average of 5.66 percent passed CSEC. Giving a breakdown, he said 8 percent from St Ignatius Secondary School passed CSEC; Annai Secondary 7 percent, Sand Creek Secondary 6 percent, Aishalton Secondary 8 percent, Karasabai Secondary 2 percent and Kotoka Secondary 3 percent.  “That means that 94 percent of the students, who attended secondary school for the last five years in those schools that I have just identified have failed CSEC. That is a crisis,” he said.

He said overall, the pass rate was 14 percent in 2022 and 19 percent in 2023. “There must be some reason for this drastic decline to 5.66 and if this is not a national crisis, then I’m not sure what would,” he said.

The AFC recommended that the Ministry of Education conducts a six-week “in-depth” analysis of the problem and implement national recommendations.

Based on the Region Nine performance, he asked government to release the CSEC results for all 10 of Guyana’s administrative regions because based on existing numbers, it shows that there “has been a complete failure in the delivery of quality education” during the five years of secondary education.

The AFC Leader said there was no plan for vocational trading for the more than 90 percent of students who have “just finished five years of secondary school without any qualification.”

Mr Hughes said while government was boasting of spending billions of dollars on the construction of new schools, the dismal pass rate is not related to the amount of money being spent on infrastructure.