Members of Parliament have offered congratulations to the students on their success in the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA).
During the meeting of Parliament on Tuesday morning, congratulations were offered specifically to Rosario Browne who topped this year’s CPEA with a score of 98%, other students in the top 10, as well as the teachers and parents who would contributed to the academic success of the students.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education Deborah Charles said that while there has been a decline over the past four years in the number of students sitting the CPEA, the percentage pass rate has increased. She noted that no school achieved below 50 % passes in the 2017 CPEA.
Opposition Leader, Dr. Godwin Friday was of high praise for students of the Bequia Anglican Primary, who performed outstanding in this year’s CPEA. He urged the students to remain committed and determined to performing well academically when they enter secondary school.
“I want to encourage the youngsters here, is to take the same level of dedication that they have, particularly the boys, as they go into secondary school, and to focus and to work very hard to maintain the same standard of excellence that they have exhibited here in the CPEA exams,” Dr. Friday said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves noted that while tremendous progress has been made, more work still needs to be done. He explained that there are 21 schools that did not have any students place in the top 200 of the 2017 CPEA.
“There are 21 schools that have no one in the top 200, which tells us that there is still despite enormous progress across the country as a whole, you still have performances which are skewed.”
“And it is true to say that Kingstown Preparatory and St. Mary’s between them they have one third of the top 200. Again pointing toward skewed performances” the Prime Minister said.
He added that while there is nothing wrong about skewed performances, consideration must be given toward ensuring that best practices among all the very good teachers to see if all of that can be replicated across all the classrooms to have optimal results.
The Prime Minister further pointed out that greater effort needs to be put forth to raise the level of passes among male students sitting the CPEA.
“In upping our game further we have to look out for the boys. More boys took the exam but fewer boys reached the required standard. I want also to say this that of the first 200 students, the top 200, 123 are girls and 77 are boys,” Dr. Gonsalves said.
