By Sue-Ann Wayow
PUPILS who wrote the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) this year showed improvement from those who wrote last year.
The complete return to physical classrooms is partly being attributed to the improved mean percentages by the Ministry of Education.
The SEA results were released on-line on Monday at 12 noon and the Ministry of Education congratulated all who wrote the exam.
The ministry issued a media release on Monday evening with a breakdown of the mean scores.
In 2023, the mean Mathematics score is 50.4, English Language Arts Writing -53.4 and English Language Arts score was 61.6.
The ministry stated, “These mean scores in 2023, when compared to 2022, show a marked improvement in the performance of students.”
In 2022, the mean Mathematics score was 41.941. The mean English Language Arts Writing score was 44.339 and the mean English Language Arts score was 44.397.
A total of 18,797 students wrote SEA in 2023, of which 50.68% (9,527) were male and 49.32% (9,270) were female.
The ministry said the performance of pupils in the SEA was analysed according to the percentage of pupils attaining three thresholds, the percentage of pupils scoring above 50%, 30% and below and above 90%.
In 2023, the percentage scoring above 50% was 58.06% versus 37.06% in 2022 and 52.49% in 2021.
Additionally, in 2023 the percentage of students scoring 30% or below decreased to 13.55% when compared to 2022 – 27.81% and 17.7% in 2021.
And the percentage of those scoring above 90% in 2023 is 2.11%, which indicates an increase from 2022 which was 0.47%, the ministry says.
Commenting on the performance Education Minister, Dr Nyan Gadsby Dolly said, “The improvement in student performance at SEA 2023 was expected, due to the physical return of students to the classroom, and the interventions of the Ministry in addressing learning loss through the implementation of the Remedial Education Program in 80 primary schools.”
She added, “This Program includes initiatives such as the After School Support Education Programme (ASSEP), assignment of dedicated School Social Workers, Guidance Officers, Special Education Officers, and Learning Support Assistants. While the results show that these efforts are beginning to bear fruit, these initiatives must be sustained consistently over the next five years to effectively mitigate the effects of learning loss.”
Parents of pupils entering Form 1 in September 2023, were also reminded that registration for the Secondary Vacation Revision Programme, which takes place at 33 centres across Trinidad, begins on July 17, 2023.
The Ministry of Education urged parents of all eligible pupils to ensure that their children attend the programme, which is designed to provide support for a successful transition from primary to secondary school.
The 2.11% SEA achievers above a 90% will most likely be the majority of scholaship and busaries recipients. For transparency and to prevent another Juille Williams skulship fiasco , it will be PRUDENT to give the ethnicty stats of these 396 HIGH PERFORMING STUDENTS. In the Yuille Williams skulship program..only 7 % east Indians benefittef