PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The Division of Examination and Inspectorate of Education have made the results of the Foundation Based Exit examinations available to the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Jorien Wuite. The sessions that took place May 21st to 24th saw 509 students take the exams.
Of the 509, 14 students were of the ACE School, 64 of the Hillside Christian Schools, 147 students of the Division of Public Education, 94 students of the Foundation Methodist Agogic Center Schools, 34 students from the Seventh Day Adventist School and 156 students from the Foundation Catholic Education Schools. The overall nationwide grade average (for mathematics, general knowledge, English and Dutch) was 61%. Individually the nationwide average for mathematics was 59%, general knowledge was 58%, English was 76% and Dutch at 50%.
The Division of Exams head Mrs. Yvette Halley noted that there was improvement in the scores for the subjects Dutch, English and General Knowledge. However, students performed better on the Mathematics exams last year. The Foundation Methodist Agogic Center Schools secured the top scores in English (85%), mathematics (72%) and general knowledge (67%). The highest score in Dutch was attained by the Foundation Catholic Education Schools with a score of 65%.
Minister Wuite expressed her pleasure that exam grades did not appear to suffer any negative effects of the passing of hurricanes Irma and Maria. “We should take pride in the results as the students, teachers and entire school system had to and still have to endure many challenges.” the Minister indicated in her. “It has been a challenging year for students as well as teachers as many schools went through quite a bit of unsettlement also with evacuated students returning at various times to the island post Irma. As a Ministry we were interested to see if there would be effects from the hurricane or if grades would suffer. This does not appear to be the case as three subjects actually saw a rise in scores this year with only slight decrease in mathematic scores.”
Head of the Inspectorate of Education Mrs. Dorothee Illis-Laurence informed that no significant incidents were reported by any schools. She also reported that the Inspectorate will be present at the placement meetings of the high schools during the next week to monitor that the admittance criteria of each school was being adhered to. A more comprehensive overview of the results is being completed by the Division of Examinations and from those results the Division and Inspectorate will make recommendations and present a plan of action to the Minister on future exams.
The Minister extends congratulations to Yvette Halley and the entire team of the Division of Examination for the speedily availability of the results. The Minister also congratulates the students and their families for their display of resilience, dedication and focus.
