GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – President Irfaan Ali says the poor performance of Caribbean students in mathematics is a matter of concern for regional leaders and that the matter needs to be fully ventilated.
The Barbados-based Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) last month reported that only 36% of students across the region received passing grades for mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), a 7% point decrease compared to last year.
CXC’s Director of Operations, Dr. Nicole Manning emphasised the need for improvement in each territory.
Addressing the commissioning of the new Yarrowkabra Secondary School, President Ali that the matter will be discussed by regional leaders even as he suggested that declining grades in mathematics might be due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“The issue of mathematics has now captured the attention of every single head of state and prime minister in the region, and it is now an agenda for the Heads of Government in CARICOM.
That is to tell you the issues and challenges that we face,” Ali told the ceremony.
He said Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley, had recently told him that she intended to take the issue of maths to the next CARICOM summit slated for February 2025 in Bridgetown because she believed that the region was in a crisis in mathematics.
“It is not a Jamaica issue, Barbados issue, Trinidad issue or your Guyana issue. It has now become a collective issue that we must address and here in Guyana, we have to be innovative,” Ali said.
According to the CXC results, Guyana recorded a CSEC Mathematics’ pass rate of 31 per cent this year compared to 34% last year.
Ali wondered whether the declining rate of success was linked to the more than two-year long COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now also COVID, mathematics required more direct contact, more group, more analytics, more teachers-to-student relationship, more teaching time, whether COVID itself had a greater impact on students’ performance in mathematics than other subject area, because you can read and follow in other subject areas, but in mathematics, you need to have more problem-solving approach.
“You have to do formulas, understand formulas, understand analytics. That can be also an offshoot of the problem of COVID,” he said, adding that other reasons for Guyana’s declining math performance might be the effectiveness of teaching delivery, children shying away from the problem-solving mode of mathematics, and fear of the subject.
Ali said he has asked Education Minister Priya Manickchand not to await for next year’s CARICOM discussion on maths but conduct introspection, and ascertain what globally available tools could be used to improve performance in the subject.
“We’re investing in the digitisation of education, the digitisation of our textbooks, the digitisation of our teaching material, the digitisation of our learning material, digitisation of our delivery,” he said.
The Yarrowkabra Secondary School is catering for an estimated 1,019 students from several villages along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.
The GUY$790 million (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) learning facility features 11 departments including entrepreneurial, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) and TVET skills, with a dedicated cohort of 65 teachers.
Ali said the infrastructure is only one component of the government’s bid to ensure every child has access to world class education.
“We can have the best facilities, but if we also do not invest in human resources that will help this facility to manifest the type of results that you’re investing for, then you will have a mismatch,” he said.
He reiterated the government’s goal of achieving universal secondary education, adding that this involves a focus on digitising education to address challenges in subjects like mathematics.
“We further believe that universal access to secondary education should not be considered optional. It is an indispensable right for exercise. Secondary education is not merely a privilege, it is a fundamental entitlement that must be extended to all.”
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