– Cops top spot at both CSEC and CAPE
Queen’s College has copped the top spots at both the 2020 Caribbean Secondary School Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand has announced.
Bhedesh Persaud has topped the country at the CSEC Level with a total of 22 Grade Ones and One Grade Two while Zane Ramotar, also of Queen’s College, is the country’s top CAPE Student.
Minister Manickchand made the announcement on Friday (April 23) close to one year after the students at both levels took the exams at a time when the country was battling with the COVID-19 pandemic.
For CAPE, the other top students are Naomi Cambridge of St Rose’s High and Christian Pile of Queen’s College.
Meanwhile, the other top CSEC students are Duvina Seurattan –of Anna Regina Secondary School with 19 Grade Ones, 2 Grade Twos; Swasti Saytoo, also of Anna Regina Secondary School with 18 Grade Ones and 3 Grade Twos.
Geveshwar Rajkishore of Saraswati Vidya Nikitan also secured 18 Grade Ones and One Grade Two, while Reyan Khemraj of JC Chandisingh Secondary School secured 17 Grade Ones and 3 Grade Twos.
Shivnarine Chaitraim, a student of Saraswati Vidya Nikitan also secured 17 Grade Ones and 2 Grade Twos as well as Shivshankar Chaitram, who hails from the same school.
Atishta Seenarine also of Saraswati Vidya Nikitan secured 17 Grade Ones and One Grade Two while her colleague, who hails from the same school secured 16 Grade Ones and 3 Grade Twos.
Tabitha Alves of Abrams’ Zuil Secondary School came in 10th with 16 Grade Ones, and 4 Twos.
Minister Manickchand, in making the announcement said the other top students will be announced later as the reviewed results are made available to the Education Ministry by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC).
The Education Minister said reports also indicate that Guyana has performed exceptionally well at both CSEC and CAPE.
“We have copped several topped positions in the region including in individual subject areas like Business and Technical Vocational Education at the CSEC Level and Natural Sciences at the CAPE Level as well as overall outstanding student at both the CAPE Level as well as CSEC Level and as soon as that is confirmed in writing by CXC we will let you know,” Education Minister said.
In 2020, 12,009 students took the CSEC examinations, which were administered in July-August due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and consisted of only Paper 1 and SBA for school candidates, and Paper 1 and Paper 3/2 for private candidates. Students wrote a total of 35 subjects.
Candidates from Guyana like other Caribbean countries, demanded that their grades be reviewed due to a number of inconsistencies. The situation was no different for the CAPE students. In response to the widespread concerns, CXC took a decision to review the grades.
It was based on that review that the Education Ministry made the announcement on Friday. The Education Minister said she was also successful in having SBAs for students from three secondary schools accepted by CXC.
“Guyana had three schools where SBAs were not submitted for students at all, as opposed to not being submitted on time or not being submitted completely, schools did not submit SBAs at all and it was a long battle that we took on because we believed that it was in the best interest of our students, and we had to act that way, and we are happy to say that we won the battle and CXC marked those SBAs, so those students would not be getting zeros….we did win that fight on their behalf and we are very happy about that,” Minister Manickchand explained.
She also students who secured students would have secured 12 Grade Ones and more that their grades would be announced once the review is completed by CXC.
