00:00According to Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean
00:03Examinations Council Dr. Wayne Wesley, mathematics and English form the
00:08foundation on which anything else can be acquired. Considering the results for the
00:13past five years he says, the region is in a challenging and serious position when
00:18it comes to the performance of students in these two subject areas. He states
00:23that annually around 79,000 students register for mathematics and about 73,000
00:29register for English. While the average performance ranks between 79 and 80
00:34percent for English, it's not the case with math. But the average performance of
00:40mathematics is about anywhere between 55 to about 59 percent. In fact, if we really
00:51strictly apply the entire cohort, you're actually about 44 percent. This year the
01:00performance in mathematics is a bit lower than last year. The number of
01:07students attaining five or more passes is another worrying statistic. It's about
01:12six percent of the entire population of persons registered for the exam getting
01:18five or more. When we make the restriction, five subjects including
01:25mathematics and English, that drops to 4.9 percent. CXE says it redounds to
01:35around 11,500 students annually who will either not successfully navigate the
01:40university space, or who will be underemployed, or who will have to repeat
01:45the subjects, or will not maximize their real potential. And most importantly, it
01:52is having a negative effect on the economic competitiveness of the region
01:57because you're having less students being able to drive the innovation that
02:03is required for the economy to advance and for critical thinking and
02:08problem-solving attitudes to be developed. So we are in a very
02:13challenging time that we need to give greater attention to mathematics and
02:19English. CXE has taken action, which it outlines as only part of the solution.
02:25The Caribbean Examinations Council has already commissioned a team to begin to
02:30develop standards for literacy and numeracy. And those standards will be
02:36used with the incorporation of artificial intelligence for us to be
02:43able to design targeted intervention for the areas and opportunities for
02:48development for these candidates. CXE calls for further deliberations to find
02:53other ways to deal with the math and English problem. Meanwhile, Dr. Wesley
02:57says the rate of passes in digital subjects is growing, and he expresses a
03:02view that greater results can be attained if students can excel in
03:07English and math. CXE believes that artificial intelligence presents
03:11exciting possibilities, aiding millennials in particular in the
03:15learning process. As an imperative, we are now exploring AI tools to help the
03:24system to enhance the teaching and learning process. And soon you will be
03:31able to share what we have learned and how to deploy for swift and vast results.
03:40These announcements were made at CXE's 2024 release of results ceremony.
03:45Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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