The Caribbean Examinations Council,(CXC), is reporting a whopping increase in the number of candidates who sat the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate, CSEC, examinations in January.

CXC says the figure more than doubled, with some 54,866 candidates from the region writing the examinations compared with 26,093 in January last year.

It says subject entries also increased significantly.

There were 76,899 subject entries in January this year compared with 43,873 in 2009.

CXC says the increase in the number of candidates was due mainly to a change in policy in Trinidad and Tobago.

As part of the change, the Trinidadian Government is now paying the fees of all private candidates to write CXC examinations.

While there was an increase in the number of CXC candidates in January, the overall performance percentage declined by three per cent.

But the actual number of candidates achieving acceptable grades at the higher end of the scale increased in several of the subjects.