Boys starring

Aug 18, 2025 Editorial, News

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Kaieteur News – Boys in Guyana are rewriting a stubborn narrative. For too long, we’ve heard the refrain that boys are disengaged from classrooms, allergic to reading, and destined to underperform while girls surge ahead. That story was never the whole truth. And the most recent results from CSEC, and CAPE with two boys: Jayden Adrian and Arthur Roberts respectively coming out on top makes it clearer than ever: when boys are challenged, supported, and seen, they star. Several other boys have been placed in the top ten performers at both the CSEC and CAPE this year.

Notwithstanding, a 2024 article appearing on the IDB website under the caption ’Gender gaps in education in the Caribbean: are girls doing better than boys? underscored that there are growing gender gaps that leave males behind in terms of educational attainment and urged that authorities understand the determinants of this reality, as not addressing them might translate into productivity related long-term inequalities that could restrain optimal growth.

Besides, the article noted that overall persistence of learning inequalities across students’ life cycle, studies have documented a growing advantage of females over males in terms of learning outcomes. It noted that while enrollment in primary and secondary school, as well as primary school completion rates, are similar for girls and boys, secondary school completion rates largely favour girls. According to the article, females also outperform males in terms of post-secondary education enrollment, and males are significantly more likely to be in the share of population not in education, employment, or training (NEETs), the article pointed out. It mentioned too that, women across Caribbean countries consistently show higher learning achievement in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education levels, and this gap between females and males is ubiquitous across all the socio-economic spectrums.

CSEC data also reveal these consistent gaps favouring females in terms of passing rates and the proportion of top performers. However, notably across primary and secondary schools, urban and hinterland alike in Guyana, boys have been clawing back space in the winners’ circle in recent years. At the NGSA, we have watched boys, step confidently into the top ranks, not just from traditional powerhouses on the coast but from regions that once saw such triumphs as extraordinary. Their success is not an accident, but reflective of the commitment by their teachers pushing literacy earlier, parents prioritising study routines, and schools opening space for boys to learn without shame or stereotype.

At the CSEC level, the evidence is even harder to ignore. Boys have been posting standout performances in Mathematics, the sciences, and technical subjects, areas where curiosity, tinkering, and problem-solving thrive. They are also widening their footprint in humanities and business, defying the crude notion that “book work” is somehow unmasculine. In classrooms from Queen’s College and Bishop’s High and St. Stanislaus to Mackenzie High, New Amsterdam, and Anna Regina Secondary, boys are proving that discipline and ambition aren’t gendered traits. They are habits. And habits can be taught, reinforced, and celebrated.

CAPE results reinforce this momentum. Boys taking on demanding units in Pure Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Accounting, and Literatures in English are pushing for distinctions and earning them. They are forming study groups, leveraging after-school labs, and taking advantage of new digital resources. What we are witnessing is not a spike but the shape of a sustained shift, boys learning to learn, and learning to lead.

Finally, at a time when we are losing some of our young men to crime and drugs, collectively as a society we must keep the tone right, encourage our boys while at the same time avoid the lazy pendulum swing that pits boys against girls. Ours is a goal not to replace one gap with another; but to close gaps, period. Girls’ achievements have lifted national standards. Boys rising to meet them lifts the country higher still. Excellence isn’t a scarce resource. Boys in Guyana are not “defying expectations”; they are fulfilling them. Our job is to ensure those expectations are met even as we keep the labs open, the libraries buzzing, the mentors close, and the applause loud. From NGSA to CSEC to CAPE, the message is ringing out: boys can star, and they are. Now let’s make sure they keep the stage.

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• Arthur Roberts, boys, CAPE, CSEC, Editorial, Jayden Adrian

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