TTUTA president Martin Lum Kin said other factors may have contributed to 64 per cent of the region’s students failing Math in the recenlty released Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).
Among those factors, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lum Kin made the remark on CNC3’s The Morning Brew, following the release of results by CXC.
The Caribbean Examination Council revealed that secondary school students across the Caribbean scored poorly in Mathematics in this year’s CSEC exam.
Lum Kin cited physical conditions, health and safety, as well as violence and indiscipline, which have negatively impacted both parents and teachers as some of the factors in the poor performance.
He said while the pandemic is over, its long-term impact cannot be ignored.
“We have to take into consideration and be cognisant that this group of students would have been at a critical time in the lockdown phase, would have been going through COVID and the whole lockdown and the online engagement, which would have been something fairly new to most students. So, the learning loss would have been something that we have to consider. It would have contributed greatly to the performance,” Lum Kin said.
He added that a postmortem is necessary and expressed concern that TTUTA has not been very involved in that exercise spearheaded by the Education Ministry.
However, Lum Kin said an occasional drop in performance is not unusual.
“It’s not a matter to panic as well too, because you will get, and the trends have shown, that you will get fluctuations and there are particular instances and factors that may affect particular schools,” he said.
“We are not here to impede or to be resistant to whatever is the policy of the Ministry of Education and to taking education forward and the education sector. We are here to assist as best as possible.”
He agreed artificial intelligence (AI) and technology can be used in a positive way to improve students’ performance, but said research must be done to utilise it properly.
On the issue of cheating, Lum Kin said students are likely taking this route because of a lack of preparedness. He also believes they are falling victim to peer pressure and society’s expectations.
“There is a moral and ethical issue. We need to also have a level of preparedness and counselling before students go into these high-stakes examinations. So, from way back into SEA, we have to inculcate a certain level of honesty and that is within society as well. The school can reinforce it,” he said.
CXC Director of Operations Dr Nicole Manning said educators have had two years since the pandemic to get students back on track. She said despite some poor performances, grades can improve next year.
“You see a little decline? Usually, we see a little pick up afterwards,” she said.