After Jamaica losing out on achieving 50 per cent pass in Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subject passes in Mathematics by a shortage of six per cent this year, Senator Dana Morris Dixon, Minister for Education, Skills, Youth and Information says Jamaicans need to work on making Mathematics more exciting and with the use of manipulative.

Forty-four per cent of public school children who pursued CSEC 2025 Mathematics passed with a Grade I to III, although the Ministry’s goal was 50 per cent.

“Obviously, that’s not where we want to be. We want that to go even higher… but last year it was 39 per cent, and the regional average is 39 per cent of students passing Mathematics. We are above the regional average again in Mathematics,” Morris Dixon said on Friday, August 15 at the Ministry’s Press Conference on Report for 2025 CXC Results at the offices of the Ministry at Heroes Circle in Kingston.

To get the Mathematics numbers up, even though it is above the regional average, Dr Morris Dixon said the Ministry’s leadership is expecting the numbers to go up overtime based on their current intervention and training that is now happening.

“There’s a Mathematics problem in our region, and that we have to fix, and we do know it. When you talk to some our children, you’ll see this fear of Maths, and all of them get it from their parents, because they fear Maths too, and it is something that we have to work on really actively, to make Mathematics more exciting. We are expecting the numbers to go overtime,” Dr Morris Dixon said.

She said at the primary level, there are a lot of improvement with the specialist teachers for Mathematics, who also teach Science. The percentage of students considered proficient in mathematics doubled from 27 per cent in grade four (2023) to 56 per cent in grade six in 2025.

She also said Jamaica has to instill that love for Mathematics from early in a child’s life, because the numbers now being seen is as a result of overtime issues regarding instilling the love for Mathematics.

Dr Morris Dixon now calls for the use of manipulative as a new approach to learn Mathematics by play.

For her part, Dr. Kasan Troupe, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, who is charged with ensuring the leadership continues for an increase in the annual performance in Mathematics, she chimed in and said their is a retooling of teachers that is now happening.

“We are starting from very early with our intervention. As you would have seen in PEP, we have improved significantly, and so we are expecting to see that improvement as they move up. But, the truth is, the system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers, so that single variable that has the greatest impact on learning, is the teacher quality,” Dr Troupe explained.

“CXC is also working with us, because CXC realizes that more needs to be done in the region. As you have seen, it’s not a Jamaica thing, it’s a regional thing, and so right here in Jamaica, our Minister gave the approval, it went to Cabinet, we will be hosting the region in Jamaica – the Caribbean Examination Council will be convening its conference right here in October for our teachers again, focusing on pedagogical skills, looking at technological innovation in education and a focus on Mathematics,” she said.

She said they are also working with the teachers’ colleges to review the curriculum, and in-service training which she boasted about over 100 teachers now working with the University of the West Indies, Mona in a series of capacity building looking at the pedagogical skills in Mathematics. Next week will be the final in that series before they return to the classrooms for the 2025/26 academic year.