2,170 scored below 30%

At a news conference yesterday at the ministry’s Port of Spain office which was also attended by Chief Education Officer Patricia Mc David, the ministry’s permanent secretary Angela Sinaswee-Gervais and TTUTA head Lynsley Doodhai, Garcia gave a breakdown of the statistics of this year’s exam.

He noted, “a little dip” in the number of pupils overall, scoring over 50 percent, from 64.84 percent last year to 63.22 percent this year.

For Language Arts, Garcia saw a “huge improvement” in pupils scoring over 50 percent from 62.8 percent last year to 76.4 percent this year. Garcia did not offer figures for Math.

He did not present figures for Creative Writing, saying this subject was held under conditions of the Continuous Assessment Component (CAC) last year but as an exam paper this year, so no valid comparison could be made.

Garcia said the proportion of pupils scoring over 90 percent overall was now 14.25 percent, up from 12.17 percent last year.

For Language Arts this figure of high-achievers was 14.74 percent, up from 0.8 percent last year.

“Our Evaluation Department will have to look at it, a great disparity,” he said. Garcia lamented that some pupils have poor literacy and numeracy despite seven years of primary schooling.

Francis said “a remarkably high number” of pupils are scoring zero in the SE A Exam, even as otherwise competition is getting tighter at the higher end of the scale to the extent that to get your first choice, you would need a perfect score.

Francis lamented the crisis where a cohort of 100 pupils enter secondary school but only 20 ultimately graduate.

“My heart, my soul and my mind are focused on those at the other end of the scale. We can’t afford to have 2,000 young people on the cusp of secondary school who are unable to read or write,” Francis said.

He lamented that the proportion of pupils failing to reach 30 percent remains as troubling as had been seen last year. Some are likely challenged by “undiagnosed issues”, he lamented, adding that the Ministry must focus more attention on these pupils.

Citing a constituent’s child who had scored just five percent in Math and six percent in Language Arts, Garcia said such a pupil lacks the foundation to start secondary school, advising, “It is in their interest to build on their foundation.” However, Garcia and Mc David sent different messages as to whether parents of low-scoring pupils under 13, could insist their child move on to secondary school, rather than re-sit the SE A.

Posed this question, Mc David said no, but minutes later Garcia said yes.

“It is not an option. It is ministry’s policy that under 30 percent (and under 13 years old) will be asked to re-sit,” Mc David said. Garcia cited a Cabinet policy document that said low-performing pupils have the “opportunity” to repeat, but the document did not say if parents could refuse that offer. “It is up to the parent to accept that opportunity or not.” When asked if the head table was giving two conflicting statements, Garcia cut off the reporter mid-question to accuse him of trying to drive a wedge between himself and Mc David.