By Staff writer, Observer Newspaper,

Minister of Education the Hon. Shawn Richards is happy over the increased passes by local educators at the 2016 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination and the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate by people who wrote them in May and June.

While he did not go into many details on the overall statics, Mr. Richards said this year students from institutions who under-performed last year saw vast improvements in 2016. He praised Verchilds and Cayon High School as two institutions that did well.

The schools saw a 10 percent and seven percent increase in their pass rate compared with 2015, Mr. Richards told Dieppe Bay residents Tuesday, Aug. 23. in one of a series of government weekly town hall meetings.

He commended Rol J. Williams for his passes of 17 grade ones and singled out students who received 11 grade ones.

Young Williams, who recently graded from Gingerland Secondary School, is considered the Federation’s top student even though the Ministry and Minister would not confirm the status.

Richards congratulated all the students who were successful in their examinations. The Observer contacted the Ministry of Education and learned that officials are putting together details to release them to the media later in the week.

He was cautious in disclosing information, saying, “At this time, I don’t want to single out any particular student in fear that I may not recognize all the students and schools who have done well.”

Several islands including Guyana released their statistics shortly after receiving them from the Caribbean Examination Council. Fatima Karim received 19 Grade Ones and one Grade Two at this year’s examination.

He also congratulated the teachers for working diligently with students to make sure they performed well. However, he avoided discussing public concerns that students who wrote CSEC from Basseterre High School failed the Social Studies because of non-submission of grades from their school–based assessment.

Reports circulated last week that officials at the institution failed to submit the grades entirely to CXC for inclusion as part of the students’ overall grading. This resulted in their failing that subject. CXC officials are also reportedly disappointed with the overall pass rate in Math, English and Science.