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When preliminary results for the 2026 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations were released, officials in Antigua and Barbuda were confronted with a stark and disappointing outcome: only 30.3% of test-takers passed the mathematics section, a result that places the small island nation nearly 12 full percentage points below the broader Caribbean regional average. The alarming underperformance has prompted the country’s Ministry of Education to roll out a series of sweeping, targeted interventions aimed at lifting mathematics proficiency across all school levels, signaling an end to business-as-usual practices in math instruction.

Clare Browne, the country’s Director of Education, labeled mathematics the most problematic area of the 2026 preliminary CSEC results during a public discussion on the findings hosted by local broadcaster ABS Presents. “We’re at 30 per cent. The regional average is 42. We are way below the regional average,” Browne emphasized, adding that the Ministry of Education has fully recognized the severity of the gap and the urgent work that lies ahead. CXC Local Registrar Maritza West later confirmed the 30.3% pass rate when presenting official subject performance breakdowns for the country, echoing that mathematics continues to be a consistent area of underperformance.

For education leaders, the poor result is particularly disheartening given the efforts already deployed to turn outcomes around. Browne noted that the ministry’s dedicated Mathematics Unit and classroom teachers across the country have invested significant time and energy into boosting student performance in recent years. “I know the Mathematics Unit has been doing much. I know our teachers have been doing much in terms of seeking to improve the Mathematics situation,” he said. “And it just appears as if the struggle is real and the struggle continues. But the struggle — we will continue to fight until we overcome.”

To address the persistent gap, the ministry has already begun restructuring its approach to mathematics education starting with expanded leadership capacity. The Mathematics Unit has been expanded to add two full-time education officers: one focused exclusively on mathematics instruction at primary school levels, and a second tasked with supporting upper primary and secondary school programs. Beyond structural changes, officials will conduct a comprehensive review of mathematics teacher placements across all secondary schools, with the goal of matching qualified educators to roles where they can drive the strongest student outcomes.

Browne made clear that paper qualifications alone will no longer be sufficient to retain a mathematics teaching post, for educators who consistently fail to deliver improved results will be reassigned. “Even if you have the paper qualifications and you’re not delivering, and we have to kind of move you out of a situation, then we will,” he said, quickly adding that the policy shift is not a criticism of working teachers, many of whom are already pushing to improve outcomes. “I’m not knocking teachers because I know our teachers are trying hard. But we’re ensuring that we place our Mathematics teachers in the best possible position so that they are able to do the best for their charges.”

Additional on-the-ground support will come from curriculum officers, who will now enter mathematics classrooms regularly to conduct direct observation of instruction, offer real-time mentoring, and provide targeted support to educators who need it. “We’re going to be going into the classrooms, monitoring and mentoring, because we need to be sure as to what is happening there,” Browne explained.

The ministry will also carry out full audits of school timetables across all grade levels to verify that students are receiving the minimum required instructional time for mathematics, as outlined in national education policy. Under existing rules, students in Grades One through Six in primary school must receive a minimum of 255 minutes of mathematics instruction each week, while kindergarten students require 200 minutes weekly. For secondary schools operating on a five-day schedule, first-form students must have six 45- to 60-minute mathematics periods per week, while students in Forms Two through Five must receive a minimum of five periods. Schools following a six-day rotating schedule are required to offer seven periods for first-form students and six periods for Forms Two through Five.

Going forward, Browne acknowledged that turning around national mathematics outcomes will require long-term sustained effort and willingness to make difficult, unpopular decisions. “If we have to move people out, then we’re prepared to move people out,” he said. “We have to do something. It cannot be business as usual.”

As the start of a new academic term rapidly approaches, the government of Antigua and Barbuda is executing an ambitious program of school infrastructure improvement, centered on the expansion of four existing campuses alongside targeted repairs at dozens of other education facilities across the twin-island nation.

Education authorities confirmed that the expansion projects at the four selected schools are designed to address persistent overcrowding in classrooms, a longstanding challenge that has hindered effective learning environments for students across multiple districts. The upgrades will add new instructional spaces, including modern classrooms, updated resource rooms, and improved common areas that accommodate growing student enrollment numbers that have outstripped the capacity of older buildings in recent years.

Alongside the major expansion work, maintenance teams have been deployed across the country to carry out urgent repairs at dozens of other public schools. These repairs cover a wide range of critical needs: fixing damaged roofing that has leaked during recent rainy seasons, upgrading outdated electrical systems to support modern educational technology, resurfacing deteriorating playgrounds and sports areas, and repairing broken plumbing and sanitation facilities that have posed health and safety risks for students and staff.

Government education spokespersons emphasized that the entire program is on track to be completed before the first day of the new academic year, which is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks. The infrastructure push forms part of a broader national commitment to improving educational outcomes by investing in safe, functional, and welcoming learning environments that support both student well-being and academic achievement. Officials added that the project has also created short-term construction jobs for local workers, providing a secondary boost to the national economy while addressing critical education sector needs.

Community leaders and parent-teacher associations across the country have welcomed the initiative, noting that long-overdue upgrades will help address years of deferred maintenance and growing enrollment pressures. Many stakeholders have expressed hope that this infrastructure investment represents the start of a sustained commitment to upgrading the nation’s education facilities, rather than a one-time pre-term push.

Two secondary schools in the Caribbean have marked a promising early milestone for a groundbreaking new modular mathematics initiative rolled out by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), with participating students posting impressive pass rates in the program’s first assessment phase.

St. Mary’s Secondary School and Irene B. Williams Secondary School, the two institutions selected to pilot the Caribbean Targeted Education Certificate (CTEK) program for the 2025-2026 academic cycle, have delivered standout outcomes in the initiative’s opening module. According to CXC Local Registrar Maritza Weste, St. Mary’s Secondary achieved a 96.8% acceptable-grade rate for Module One, while Irene B. Williams Secondary recorded an 86% pass rate. Of the 40 students registered at St. Mary’s, 32 completed the first examination, with only two failing to earn an acceptable grade. All 43 registered students at Irene B. Williams successfully finished the module assessment.

Weste offered public commendation for both schools’ first-time performance in the pilot, noting that the outcome exceeds early expectations for an untested new program structure. Participating students completed Module One while enrolled in third form, and will move on to the intermediate Module Two during their fourth form year.

CTEK was developed to address longstanding challenges with the traditional CSEC mathematics assessment model, which requires students to master the full curriculum and sit a single high-stakes examination at the end of fifth form. By splitting the full subject content into three smaller, progressive, stackable modules, the new framework allows learners to build mastery incrementally, reducing the pressure and cognitive overload that often disadvantage students who struggle with cumulative mathematics coursework.

Weste emphasized that the modular restructuring does not come at the cost of academic rigor. The program retains the full academic standard of the traditional CSEC mathematics qualification, simply breaking content into more manageable learning blocks. The opening Module One covers foundational secondary mathematics concepts, including core consumer arithmetic. Module Two expands to intermediate topics such as algebra, logical reasoning, and applied measurement, while the final Module Three covers advanced content including geometry, trigonometry, vectors, and matrices.

A key feature of the new framework is that students earn incremental certification for every module they complete successfully. Once a learner passes all three modules, regardless of when they finish the sequence, they are awarded a full CSEC Mathematics certificate with a final consolidated grade. Education officials confirmed that individual module results are permanently stored on student records, and CXC will combine scores from all three components to calculate the final grade once all assessments are complete.

The pilot program is framed as an alternative pathway for students who find the pressure and volume of content in the traditional single-examination model overwhelming, and the strong early results provide the first empirical data to inform CXC’s future decisions about a potential broader rollout of the modular framework across the Caribbean.

When preliminary 2026 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results were released for Antigua and Barbuda, education stakeholders confirmed a modest but noticeable dip in the nation’s overall pass rate this testing cycle. Official data compiled by CXC Local Registrar Maritza West shows that 1,391 candidates completed 8,560 individual subject examinations across the country this year, resulting in an overall pass rate of 75.3 percent. This marks a 2.1 percentage point decline from the 2025 overall pass rate of 77.4 percent, and sits below the 76.6 percent pass rate recorded in 2024.

During a public discussion of the results hosted by ABS Presents, West framed the 2026 outcome as largely stable despite the small downward shift, noting that performance has stayed within a consistent range across the past three testing cycles. Clare Browne, Director of Education for Antigua and Barbuda, echoed this framing while offering transparent commentary on the results, acknowledging that any decline in academic performance carries disappointment that cannot be downplayed for the public.

“Any decline at all in any kind of academic result for me is a little disappointing,” Browne stated, emphasizing that the outcome creates a clear roadmap for targeted improvements in the education system. “I think the results present a narrative of success, of challenges, and certainly index where we need to go, index that we have work to do.”

Despite the slip in overall national pass rates, 2026 results delivered multiple strong performances that outpaced Caribbean regional benchmarks. Out of the 32 CSEC subject areas offered, Antigua and Barbuda posted pass rates above the regional average in 21 subjects, and matched the regional average exactly in Physical Education and Sport.

Top-performing subjects delivered exceptionally strong pass rates, led by Additional Mathematics which achieved a perfect 100 percent pass rate this cycle. Industrial Technology (Building Technology) followed closely at 99.4 percent, with Physical Education and Sport posting a 99.1 percent pass rate. Other high-achieving areas included Theatre Arts at 96 percent, Food, Nutrition and Health at 95.9 percent, Technical Drawing at 95.1 percent, Family and Resource Management at 94.5 percent, Biology at 94 percent, Visual Arts at 91.2 percent, and Office Administration at 90.3 percent.

Core academic subjects also posted solid pass rates above 70 percent, including English A at 80.6 percent, Information Technology at 86.7 percent, Principles of Business at 86.9 percent, and Human and Social Biology at 87.4 percent. English B recorded a 71.5 percent pass rate, while Chemistry hit 70.2 percent, Social Studies 70.4 percent, Physics 74.2 percent, Economics 74.1 percent, and Principles of Accounts 73.4 percent.

However, the results also highlighted persistent gaps that education leaders have flagged for urgent intervention. Mathematics remains the nation’s most critical academic challenge, posting a pass rate of just 30.3 percent in 2026. Other subjects with below-average performance included French at 45 percent, Caribbean History at 55.6 percent, Music at 61.7 percent, Geography at 62.7 percent, and Spanish at 69.1 percent. Browne specifically called out mathematics’ low pass rate as a clear signal that targeted curricular and instructional support is needed for the subject.

In closing, Browne extended formal congratulations to all students, teachers, and schools that delivered strong 2026 results, reaffirming that the education ministry will not overlook the overall decline as it plans future improvements. “This year, in the overall percentage pass, we have slipped maybe two percentage points in the wrong direction, and that, for me, holds a little bit of disappointment,” he said. “But nonetheless, we celebrate the successes.”