Caribbean Students – By Tahna Weston
Caribbean Students Shine Historic
Caribbean students have delivered a strong performance in the January 2026 CSEC examinations — the first fully electronic and hybrid sitting in the history of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)— with nine of the 13 subjects administered recording increases in pass rates and several subjects posting dramatic improvements over the previous year.
Director of Operations Dr Nicole Manning presented the results at a CXC press conference, confirming that 10,481 candidates registered across 17 Caribbean states for a total of 16,695 subject entries, with 96 percent of entries fully electronically administered. The data, she said, validated the e-assessment hybrid model and demonstrated that Caribbean students are more than ready for the digital examination environment.
The standout performances were recorded in Social Studies, which posted a near-100 percent increase, and Physics, which saw almost a 50 percent rise — results Dr Manning attributed to diligence on the part of both students and their parents.
English A recorded a pass rate of 70.7 percent, up from 61.25 percent the previous year, while English B climbed to 62.35 percent from 51 percent. Principles of Business posted 69.94 percent, Principles of Accounts 60.34 percent, and Chemistry and Biology each recorded 49 percent at grades one to three. Mathematics, whilst marginally improved at 31.45 percent, remains an area the Council intends to address directly at its upcoming regional education conference.
“But it is noteworthy that while Mathematics saw a general slight increase, it’s better; it’s not as good as what we would want to see and we’ll speak a bit more about that in relation to what we’re trying to accomplish in the conference coming up next week. As I mentioned for mathematics we had a slight increase about one percent thereabout,” Dr Manning added.
Despite the strong results, absenteeism remains a concern, with approximately 35 percent of registered candidates failing to sit the examinations. Lack of preparedness ranked highest among reasons cited in post-session surveys.
CXC is developing a QR code system to capture real-time candidate feedback upon leaving examination rooms, and both Dr Manning and Dr Wayne Wesley, CXC’s Registrar and CEO, called on ministries to increase support for out-of-school candidates.
The Operations Director had a direct message for those preparing for May-June.
“For every student who registers for an exam but you do not turn up it means that you have missed the opportunity of performing and missed the opportunity of achieving. I believe it’s important to note that the confidence that your teachers and your parents and also other community support is saying to you at least turn up.
“So, we want to encourage that for those candidates sitting exams in May/June – please – if even if it is that you’re feeling unprepared we are encouraging you and we are saying that you may be more prepared than you realize so it’s important just to show up,” Dr Manning said.
On the question of technical challenges, she confirmed that internet connectivity issues, electrical outages, and platform access delays were the primary disruptions encountered during the session. She was clear, however, about the limited scale of the problem.
“So, I would say that all in all, we did not see any issues going past about 30 minutes. We only had six of those. So, of all the exams done over the period, we only had six instances and it’s not across the Caribbean. It’s different Caribbean countries,” she said.
CXC confirmed that no candidate was penalised or lost examination time as a result of any disruption, with full compensatory time provided in all affected cases. Perhaps the most significant indicator of the electronic model’s success, however, came in the area of examination integrity. The January 2026 sitting recorded zero irregularities — a stark contrast to the 80 irregularities, including instances of collusion, documented in the May-June 2025 examinations.
“And we are praying and hoping – I start with a smile – that we are now hoping that the May-June sitting will be the same, where we will have no irregularities. And that speaks to the fact that this approach gave me the way to go. And it therefore means that if it is that we are successful in January, and we see issues in May-June, it is telling us an indication of where we need to go,” Manning said.
January 2026 results are now available to candidates via the CXC portal.
