Fifty-two per cent of students who sat the recent CSEC Mathematics examination have passed.
This is in fact "a slight improvement" over the 49 per cent passes in 2018 and "a marked improvement" over 2019 when some 46 per cent of students attained acceptable grades, according to the Director of Operations, Examination Services Division at CXC, Nicole Manning.
However, speaking to Loop News on the margins of the ceremony for the official release of the July 2020 Examinations Results, CXC Registrar and CEO Dr Wayne Wesley expressed concern.
"With having just over 50 per cent or 52 per cent... certainly CXC would be concerned about students and their preparation for these examinations," Wesley said.
He added: ". . .50 per cent would not give us the kind of satisfaction that we would want to have as it relates to the development of the human capital within the region and as such we would definitely have to do some work to increase that number."
Way forward - Retraining and teaching teachers to teach Math concepts creatively
He said that 2020 presented unique circumstances but, from this year's results, "what we have recognised, is that we will have to work closer with the teachers, particularly as it relates to the administration of SBAS, which is the Schools-Based Assessment component of our examinations, to ensure that the students are grasping the concepts that they are supposed to be mastering, as well as looking at the resources that we make available through our learning hub for students to have access to information and to aid their preparation."
But Wesley cautioned that improving this statistic, and at the same time reducing the fail rate, will not happen overnight.
"A lot will have to be done, so it's not just with the teachers, but perhaps working as well with our Teachers' Colleges to help with those new students coming in and the creation of seminars that will help to build and expand competencies of teachers in the delivery of these subjects," he said.