By Zaya Williams

While the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) acknowledges a decrease in students failing to attend their exams, the issue concerns the organization.

Speaking at the release of the 2023 results, Dr. Nicole Manning, Director of Operations and Examinations at CXC, noted that despite the reduction by more than half this year, educators still need concern.

In 2023, a total of 9,974 students registered for CAPE exams but did not appear, compared to over 19,000 in 2022. This decline occurred alongside an increase in candidate and subject entries, with 101,340 subject entries in 2023 and 99,797 in 2022.

Candidate entries for 2023 were 26,424; in 2022, they stood at 25,536. For CSEC, 71,548 students received an “ungraded” due to their absence, more than 30,000 fewer than in 2022.

Like CAPE, there were more entries this year than the previous one. Subject entries rose from 484,335 to 525,442, while candidate entries went from 106,151 to 116,131.

Likewise, 5,440 students still need to submit their School-Based Assessments (SBAs), representing a mere 1 percent increase from last year’s 4,838 non-submissions.

Manning emphasized the importance of parental involvement in addressing this concern, stating, “We are actively engaging stakeholders and encouraging not only students, principals, and teachers but also parents to collaborate with our students to complete these SBAs.” Despite these challenges, there was an overall increase in student performance.

In CAPE 2023, 92.15 percent of students attained acceptable grades, surpassing the 91.25 percent achieved in 2022. Similarly, 74.36 percent of CSEC students secured Grade One, Two, or Three in 2023, slightly rising from the previous year’s 73.81 percent.