By Omar Anderson, Staff ReporterEIGHTEEN OF the upgraded high schools last year gained 100 per cent pass rates in the CXC Information Technology (IT) exams, compared to 15 of the traditional high schools which got a 100 per cent pass rate.
However, in many instances the upgraded high schools had fewer students sitting the exams.
Traditional high schools, (also called secondary high schools), scored 475 distinctions, with the upgraded high schools gaining 122, and technical high schools amassing 43.
The general IT pass rate for the three types of secondary high schools has been very good last year, according to the 2001 Performance of Jamaican Students in the CXC, which was done in February this year. The report is compiled by the National Council on Education (NCE).
The upgraded high schools which had 100 per cent passes were Denham Town High, Edith Dalton James, Norman Manley High, Pembroke Hall High, Cedric Titus High, Maldon High, Green Island High, Grange Hill High, B.B. Coke High, Balaclava High, Lewisville High, Maggotty High, Kemps Hill High, Lennon High, Bog Walk High, Ewarton High, McGrath High, and Tacius Golding High.
Maggotty High which gained 25 distinctions, and McGrath High which scored 20 distinctions.
Only Holmwood Technical scored a 100 per cent pass rate in the technical high schools category, having 43 candidates taking the exam and four of them gaining distinctions.
In the secondary high schools category, Wolmer's Girls performed extremely well, scoring 100 per cent passes. A total of 127 girls from the school sat the IT exam with 28 of them gaining Grade 1 passes or distinctions -- the second-highest number of distinctions.
Although Immaculate Concep-tion High didn't score 100 per cent passes, it had a 99 per cent pass rate with 71 of the 112 students picking up distinctions -- by far the school scoring the most distinctions in IT last year.
Meanwhile, other secondary high schools scoring 100 per cent passes are Calabar High, Holy Childhood High, Titchfield High, Ferncourt High, St. Hilda's Diocesan High, York Castle High, Mount Alvernia High, Rusea's High, Mannings High, Hampton High, Bishop Gibson High, Decarteret High, Charlemont High, and St. Jago High.
Several schools, Ewarton High, Tacius Golding High, and Pembroke Hall High each had one candidate sitting the IT exam. According to the NCE report, more students from the secondary high schools sat the IT exam compared with upgraded high schools.
