Whiteman THERE HAS been a general improvement in passes in the 2002 Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) examinations, according to Minister of Education Youth and Culture Burchell Whiteman.
English Language and Information Technology (IT) grades were disappointments, however, English having declined from 57.9 per cent to 53.7 per cent and IT with the pass rate declining from 91.7 per cent to 66.5 per cent this year.
Jamaican students have, however, recorded improved performances in 10 subject areas. These are Mathematics, which improved to 36 per cent from 30.2; Biology, 56.6 per cent from 53.5 per cent; Chemistry, 49.7 per cent from 42.9 per cent; Caribbean History 77.3 per cent from 67.8 per cent; English Literature, 58.2 per cent from 48.8 per cent and Geography, 72.8 per cent from 60.3 per cent.
There were also creditable improvements in Physics to 53.4 per cent from 43.4 per cent; Building Technology, 87.7 per cent from 80.8 per cent; Principles of Business (POB), 80.8 per cent from 76.4 per cent and Spanish 68.4 per cent from 66.9 per cent.
The Minister told a press conference last week that when compared to four years ago, many of these scores show impressive jumps in the academic performance of the student body. English Language for example, though declining slightly, has made great strides from the 39 per cent passes on 1998 to now be on par with the rest of the regional average.
Twelve of the subject areas have also shown increases in the number of students obtaining tertiary matriculation requirements over the 1998/2002 period.
"Generally speaking we have moved up in most subjects," Mr. Whiteman said.
"There's been a pretty consistent trend upwards with both increased numbers sitting and increased numbers passing and a corresponding movement in the percentages."
