Education Minister Octavia Alfred has said Dominica performed 11.3 per cent above the regional average in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations set by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). She made the remarks while delivering the address at the first-ever National Schools' Awards ceremony, held at the Goodwill venue.
The minister's comparison places Dominica's candidates ahead of the wider Caribbean benchmark in the examinations taken at the end of secondary school. The CSEC is the regional certificate that many Dominican students rely on for further study and entry into the job market, so the figure is a direct measure of how the island's schools are performing against their peers across the region.
The ceremony marked a new departure for the education sector, bringing together schools and their achievements in a national event for the first time. Recognising performance in this way gives the public a visible account of the work done in classrooms across the island, and it sets a standard that the ministry and schools can measure progress against in future years.
The source report does not give the full breakdown of subjects, pass rates or the exact regional figure against which the 11.3 per cent was calculated, and these details have not been published in the material available to this newsroom. Dominica News Online carried the remarks, and further detail on the examination results may be released by the Ministry of Education.
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