Education Minister Tim Gopeesingh says this year has produced the best examination results in T&T's history.Speaking at a post-Cabinet press conference yesterday at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, Gopeesingh spoke about the results of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).
He said there had been improved results in both units of the CAPE exam as compared to 2010.
He said unit one of the CAPE exams, which was taken by 8,245 candidates saw over 65 per cent of students obtaining grades one to three, while over 93 per cent of students achieved grades one to five.He said that was the first year a digital media exam was written.Students achieved greater than 90 per cent scores in 19 out of the 25 subjects in the exam, he said."There has been an incremental improvement in academic importance since 2010," he added.
Gopeesingh said that 93.1 per cent of students who wrote unit two of the exam got grades one to five, with 68.1 per cent of students achieving grades one to three."The performance in CAPE continues to improve and get better each year," he noted.He announced that of the 21,829 people who did CSEC, 64.6 per cent received grades one to three."Almost two out of every three students writing the exam received grades one to three," he said.
Gopeesingh also said there was a significant increase in mathematics, with the 55.2 per cent of students passing the subject this year as compared to 41.9 per cent in 2010.He said the improvements were due to the hard work of teachers and principals as well as direct intervention by the ministry."This is the best performance that we have had in this country, in all three exam areas, the SEA (Secondary Entrance Assessment), the CSEC and CAPE," he said.