Guyana has recorded gains at the Caribbean Examination Council, with improved results and a major expansion in vocational certification.
Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain says 2,813 students are expected to receive Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQs) this year.
The certification gives students who pursued practical training an opportunity to matriculate to tertiary education or enter the workforce in fields including commercial food preparation, crop production and welding.
“This is something where our students put aside the theoretical for the practical. So, if we say you get a CVQ in tilapia production, it means you know to mind tilapia until we cook it,” he said.
Hussain also reported strong results for the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC).
The programme is now offered in 92 percent of secondary schools, with nearly 100 students sitting the examination in the first year.
Of those, 99.1 percent achieved mastery or competency and projects that 13,660 students will write CCSLC in 2027. At the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), 666 students wrote the exams this year, compared with 650 in 2025. He added that Diamond Secondary School wrote CAPE for the first time and recorded a 96.8 percent pass rate, while seven schools achieved pass rates above 90 percent.
“The pass rate, the big thing in 2025, the pass rate was 91.9 per cent. I’m happy to report that in 2026, it is 94.6 per cent,” he disclosed.
At CSEC, 13,052 students wrote the examinations, up from 12,685 last year, while retention stood at 97.96 percent.
The overall pass rate also improved, rising from 66 percent to 67 percent.