“Overwhelmingly, I do believe that St. Kitts and Nevis has done incredibly well this year. When I look at the results, I see a trend in our secondary schools. There are some schools, that despite the challenges, would still have entered a significantly large number of students and this is to be commended,” said Dr. Esdaille during the Ministry of Education’s 2020 CXC results press conference on Monday, September 28, 2020.
Dr. Esdaille said that the Ministry takes an in-depth look at trends.
“When we look at results, one of the things we pay attention to at the Ministry of Education is the actual cohort. So, it is not just the number of students entered it is the number of students who actually are registered and who attend that school – the number of students within a particular form as against the number of students who register for examinations,” said Dr. Esdaille. “We are seeing an upward trend with more students being given an opportunity and so for those principals who would have persevered and who would have stuck to that trend of making that opportunity available despite challenges I commend them.”
The senior assistant secretary indicated that there have been significant increases in English and Mathematics.
“In looking at our results particularly in the areas of English and Maths, which are so critical to the future of our students whether they are going into the workforce or continuing to tertiary education and university, we have seen some modest increases,” said Dr Esdaille. “In particular, I note an increase in Math which is significant for us. There is about a 10 per cent increase this year between 2020 and 2019 and that is commendable because I think throughout the region and the world we know that education and mathematics continue to be a challenge and that many students shy away from the challenge of taking Mathematics but it is so critical to their futures and so I was very pleased to see that modest increase this year.”
