London: The number of school students sitting General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams in hard science subjects has soared, suggesting that Britain is at last making progress in producing the scientists it needs to compete internationally.
The news emerged as examiners announced a jump in the percentage of GCSE students getting good grades - the largest increase since 1989.
The number of candidates sitting biology, chemistry and physics leapt by about a third on last year. The sharp rise suggests the number of A-level candidates and university students in these subjects will also increase in the coming years.
Hilary Leevers of the Campaign for Science and Engineering welcomed the strong improvement in science grades and said she was "delighted" and "relieved to see that students are choosing to study science to the highest level at GCSE".
The proportion of physics and chemistry candidates earning an A or A* edged above 50 per cent, suggesting there is a generation of talented young scientists.
The Royal Society, the science body, also welcomed the results, saying: "If the UK is to remain economically competitive, we need more scientists in the workforce."
Strong demand
The sharp rise in candidates for the three sciences points to strong pent-up demand as schools increase their science offerings. From September, all students achieving good science results at 14 will have the right to study all three sciences at GCSE. About 240,000 papers in the three sciences were sat this summer - 60 per cent more than in 2003.
But there are other more general signs that students are responding to employer priorities. The number of candidates studying statistics jumped by 4.3 per cent to 86,224. In information technology candidates slumped 23 per cent. One in 10 computer science graduates is still unemployed several months after graduation - the highest rate for any subject.
Chris Hannant, head of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "Questions still remain about grade inflation and dumbing down, but overall there seems to be a reinvigorated drive for quality."
By David Turner