When Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC) and Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) results were released yesterday, Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald said that the national grade averages had not “changed that much.”
Mr. Fitzgerald, however, noted that the results of the BJCs were some of the best results in “many many years.”
“All I can say is the averages have not changed that much. I’ve said before ,if you want to stick on averages, you will not see a change in averages for a number of years,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is that more students are performing above average than those performing below average. Cumulatively, more students are achieving ‘A’ through ‘D’ than those receiving ‘E’ and below. For the BJCs, 64 per cent of the grades are ‘A’ through ‘D’ and 36 per cent are ‘E’ and below. For the BGCSEs, 71 per cent of the grades are ‘A’ through ‘D’ and 29 per cent are ‘E’ and below.”
According to the minister, 11,703 candidates from a total of 120 centres registered to take the BJC examinations for 11 subjects offered.
The candidates came from 68 private schools and 52 government schools.
This would then represent a 10.69 per cent increase over 2015.
The total number of grades awarded in 2016 is 41,894 compared to 39,657 in 2015, an increase of 5.64 per cent.
Overall, the number of candidates achieving grades ‘A’ through ‘D’ compared to last year increased by 1,667.
During the press conference, the education minister made sure to put greater emphasis on the progresses made since the inception of the Bahamas High School Diploma (BHSD).
The minister attributed the fact that BJC results improved greatly to the fact that students had to pass four of more BJC exams to receive the BHSD.
More students now must sit the BJC, despite being past Grade 9 in order to receive the certificate.
“In 2016, there were a total of 2,240 candidates who achieved the minimum grade of ‘D’ or higher in five or more BJCs.
This represents a 2.8 per cent over 2015 and the highest number who received a D grade or higher in five or more subjects in many many years. As far as we can go back, we weren’t able to find where more than 2,240 achieved five or more with ‘D’ or higher,” the minister said.
Numbers for the BGCSEs were down this year according to the statistics.
A total of 6,450 candidates from 104 centres registered to the BGCSE examinations.
Sixty-five centres were independent while 39 were government schools.
This number represents a decrease of 1.13 per cent when compared to last year.
The BGSCEs offers a total of 27 subjects with the overall average number of subjects written per candidate being four.
Mr. Fitzgerald made it clear that without the help of parents, students cannot excel in school.
“Parents can no longer detach themselves from their child’s learning. Whether or not you have BJC or BGCSEs you simply need to show up and get involved. Display an interest that will show your child that you care,” he said.
He encouraged parents to empower their children and that would be ensuring they receive a quality education provided by the government free of charge.
