Sixty-nine wards of the State have been recognised for outstanding performance in the 2018 Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)- administered exams.

At the Child Protection and Family Services Agency’s (CPFSA) seventh annual Educational Achievement Awards on Thursday at Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, St Andrew, 52 of them were awarded for achievement in Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams, and 17 for their accomplishments in Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

State minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information Floyd Green commended the award recipients and pledged that the Government will continue to pay for them to sit as many subjects as possible.

He noted that during the period 2016 to 2018, a total of 632 children in State care were registered for secondary examinations, with 410 excelling in areas such as English, mathematics, social studies and principles of business.

“Our mantra is, ‘Every child can learn and every child must’, and we don’t differentiate whether our children are in State care or not,” he said.

Green told the students that their achievement represents what it means to “level up”, which is the theme of Youth Month.

“I’m truly inspired and very proud to share in your achievements, considering oftentimes the very difficult circumstances that you may have encountered,” he said.

“We’re awarding more and more persons, which means more and more of our children are doing well, and I think that is an excellent sign,” he added.

Chief executive officer of CPFSA Rosalee Gage-Grey, in her remarks, said that this year’s CXC passes represent a 21 per cent improvement over 2017.

“Twelve more of our children are blazing the trail in academia,” she noted.

She informed that the Spanish-Jamaican Foundation will be making a special presentation to seven students who did well in the Spanish exam.

“To our children, we are very proud of you and you should be very proud of yourselves. We understand that sitting examinations can be very daunting; however, you have executed and did very well,” she said.

This year’s awardees are from the CPFSA’s four regions in the western, north-east, southern and south-east areas of the island.

— JIS