Education Minister hails gains in CSEC Mathematics

Minister of Education Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon says the latest Caribbean Examinations Council results, particularly in Mathematics, show that targeted interventions are beginning to pay off, despite the disruption caused by Hurricane Melissa.

Jamaica’s CSEC Mathematics pass rate climbed to 48.7 per cent, marking a 14.2 percentage-point improvement over the past three years and signalling continued gains in one of the country’s most challenging subjects.

“The most compelling story of this year’s results is the improvement in CSEC Mathematics,” Morris Dixon said.

The Mathematics pass rate rose from 34.5 per cent in 2024 to 43.1 per cent in 2025 and 48.7 per cent this year.

Morris Dixon attributed the improvement to the success of several initiatives involving The University of the West Indies (UWI) and UNICEF, mentorship programmes and teacher training across the island.

The programmes have focused on areas in which students have traditionally struggled, including trigonometry, transformations, vectors, circle geometry, functions and matrices, she explained.

However, the minister cautioned that the gains, while encouraging, were not enough.

“Though we have been seeing these gains in our Mathematics scores, which are above the regional average, the results are still not where we want to be, but we are going in the right direction.”

English A also maintained a strong performance, recording an 83.6 per cent pass rate, while the overall CAPE pass rate reached 91.7 per cent.

CAPE Unit 2 recorded an even stronger 93.9 per cent pass rate, the minister disclosed.

The performance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) was also strong, with the CAPE STEM pass rate rising to 92.6 per cent. All 14 listed STEM subjects recorded pass rates above 84 per cent.

Morris Dixon also highlighted the number of students who achieved passes in five or more subjects, including Mathematics and English.

Morris Dixon also praised the 6,696 candidates who passed five or more subjects, including Mathematics and English. This was 496 more than in 2025.

The minister said the results were particularly significant given the challenges faced by the education system in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

“This is a powerful story of resilience, hard work and the unwavering commitment of our educators, students and the communities that support them.”

“It was not an easy road this year, but everybody put out their best effort to help our students achieve this,” she said, adding that the ministry is undertaking further analysis of the results, including performance by gender and parish, and the impact of the hurricane on students in affected communities.

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