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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Minister of Education, Science and Technology the Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald (at podium) and Permanent Secretary Donella Bodie (at right). (BIS Photo/Raymond A. Bethel, Sr.)
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NASSAU, The Bahamas -- Minister of Education, Science and Technology the Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald said the 2016 Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC) and Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) examination results once again indicate that students are showing year over year improvements for the past two years.
Minister Fitzgerald said he was encouraged by the continued positive trend in both the BJC and BGCSE examinations during a press conference at the Ministry, Tuesday, August 9, 2016.
“The fact of the matter is that more students are performing above average than those performing below average. Cumulatively, more students are achieving A – D than those receiving E and below.
“For the BJCs 64 per cent of the grades are A – D and 36 per cent are E and below and for the BGCSE 71 per cent of the grades are A – D, and 29 per cent are E and below.”
The Minister explained that he would be the first to admit that The Bahamas’ system is not perfect and has its fair share of challenges.
“In fact, there is no education system I have found that is perfect but the common denominators in environments where students are consistently performing well, have been the balance of political will, a bi-partisan shared vision for education, a high level of school leadership, excellent teachers and students and parents who appreciate the importance of education.”
He said, “I can therefore say that our educational system is not ‘broken’ and not holding our children back.
“There are scores of children in our public schools who excel and perform exceptionally well, not just on our national examinations, especially at the BGCSE level, but perform well enough to secure academic scholarships to reputable colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.”
Minister Fitzgerald said approximately 11,703 candidates were registered to sit examinations for 11 subjects offered. This was up from 2015 where 10,573 candidates sat; so in 2016 there was an increase of 1,130 candidates or a 10.69 per cent increase.
The candidates came from 68 independent or private centres and 52 government schools.
He said the total number of grades awarded in 2016 was 41,894 compared to 39,657 in 2015 which was itself a record year.
“This represents an increase of 5.64 per cent. Furthermore, in 2014 a total of 33,669 grades were awarded, which means that since 2014, 8,225 more grades were awarded in just two years, an increase of 20 per cent in two years.”
The Minister said this increase of 20 per cent is a direct result of a new policy introduced in 2014 by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology where ALL students were required before they leave grade nine to take at least four BJC’s to meet one of the graduation requirements for the Bahamas High School Diploma.
“Those who failed to achieve the minimum four required subjects will need to re-sit any or all of them if they are to graduate.
“To make this clear, the increase in candidates in part, relates to this policy and the fact that ninth grade students have to meet current graduation criteria -- achieving a minimum of a ‘D’ grade in four subject areas; math, language, science, social science or a career and technical education (CTE) subject.
Minister Fitzgerald said, “Consequently, there were also students in grades 10 and 11 who took the BJC this year as a result of not obtaining the required four subjects while in ninth grade.”
He said that 2017 will the first year where graduates will graduate with The Bahamas High School Diploma having met all the new requirements.
“It will mean that some 12th grade students will sit BJCs again this year if it is the only requirement they need to satisfy to receive a Diploma.”
“To break this down this year’s BJC results even further, there were 1,667 more grades ‘A –D’ awarded this year over last year 26,935 this year as compared to 25,268 in 2015. There was an increase in A’s of 44, an increase in B’s of 369, an increase in C’s of 779 and an increase in D’s of 475 for a total increase of 1,669 over last year. This is progress!”
BGCSE
As for the BGCSE examinations, the Minister said that 6,450 candidates were registered to sit the examination. “This number represents a decrease of 1.13 per cent when compared to 2015 which had a total of 6,524 candidates. The total number of subjects offered is 27. The average number of subjects written per candidate this year is four, compared to five last year.”
Minister Fitzgerald said, “In reference to the number of schools who showed improvement over last year, there are 23 public high schools across 11 islands that have improved BGCSE performance when compared to 2015. This is progress and again it is encouraging!”
English Language, Biology, Mathematics and Religious Studies continue to remain the subjects of choice for the vast majority of candidates.
The Minister said that even with the more heavily subscribed subjects like Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Religious Studies, none had a 100 per cent subscription rate.
This is partially due to some schools entering 10th and 11th grade students to sit the subjects a year or two in advance of graduation; thus minimizing the number of candidates at the 12th grade level.
Eight subjects improved, they are: Commerce, Food and Nutrition, Keyboarding, English Language, Mathematics, Art & Design A, Art & Design B and Literature.
A total of 903 candidates received at least “C” in five or more subjects in 2016 compared to 961 candidates in 2015. This represents a 6.01 per cent decrease.
In 2016, a total of 1,459 candidates obtained a minimum grade of “D” at least five subjects. This represents a 4.89 per cent decrease from 2015, which had a total of 1,534 candidates.
“As many schools have provided students the option to sit the exams over a two to three year period, this practice is no doubt contributing to the decrease in the number of candidates, along with decrease in the number of students receiving grades, as the two go hand-in-hand.”
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
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