Mathematics has proved to be a tough nut to crack for students sitting for this year’s SEC exams, with the Education Minister saying that only about 40 per cent of the candidates obtained a pass mark with a grade between 1 and 5.

More precise figures were not made available by the ministry yesterday but last year the pass rate was 54 per cent.

According to information provided yesterday by the minister, Evarist Bartolo, 2,314 of the candidates for maths failed the SEC exam.

This number includes students obtaining grades 6 or 7, unclassified, and those who did not even turn up.

The second highest number of failures in the four core subjects was registered in English Language at 1,936 candidates. Maltese was third with 1,526 failures followed by physics, the last of the core subjects, with 1,376.

The ministry was yesterday not able to provide percentage pass rates for each subject.

Mr Bartolo said it was worrying that the trend was on the lines of previous years.

“Only 45 per cent are obtaining grades between 1 and 5 in all the core subjects,” he said.

The failure rates were mirrored in the number of applications for free SEC revision classes being offered to students who failed any of these subjects, intended to help those applying for September resits.

By yesterday a total of 711 students had applied, some of whom will be following two or more courses simultaneously. The greatest demand is for maths lessons, with 439 applications, followed by English language with 362 applications, Maltese (266) and physics (232).

Students will undertake an intensive six-hour-a-week programme spread over five weeks, starting at the end of this month. This initiative is being funded by the EU under the Youth Guarantee Programme and the deadline for applications is tomorrow.

Addressing a news conference, Mr Bartolo said that the government’s target was to reduce the number of students leaving school with no basic skills from 20.9 per cent to 10 per cent by 2020.

He was confident the target could be met.