Owing to the 34 per cent pass rate attained at the recent Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examinations for Mathematics, President Dr Irfaan Ali announced plans by his administration to fix this “unacceptable” score on Tuesday.
“We cannot continue with the existing pass rates in Mathematics; it is unacceptable, and we must change it, and we will change it,” the Head of State said at the commissioning ceremony of the $200 million Victoria Lily Primary School in Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE).
“I had some initial conversations with the [Education] Minister, and I’m of the view that perhaps, we need to, in a very targeted manner, create additional hours for Mathematics in the secondary school system, especially at the exam level – additional compulsory hours,” Dr Ali said.
The Guyanese Leader also disclosed that the Ministry of Education is considering incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the school curriculum to attain better learning outcomes in Mathematics.
Guyana has long faced low performance in Mathematics. Last month, Chief Education Officer (CEO) Saddam Hussain revealed that Guyana saw a slight “dip” in its overall performance this year at CSEC and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
A total of 12,118 candidates were registered for CSEC as compared to 10,368 candidates for 2022. An analysis of the 2023 preliminary results revealed that the overall pass rate was 65 per cent, a slight decline compared to 2022, with 68.5 per cent.
