Queen’s College emerged with the country’s top performers when the results were released yesterday for the Caribbean Advanced Profi-ciency Examinations (CAPE), with Upper Sixth Form Student Navindra Baldeo performing the best at that level.
Baldeo attained Grade One passes in Caribbean Studies 1, Biology 2, Chemistry 2 and Environmental Science 2 and a Grade Three in Pure Mathematics 2.
Queen’s College student Jonelle James, meanwhile, achieved Grade One passes in all five of her subjects: Biology 1, Caribbean Studies 1, Chemistry 1, Food and Nutrition 1 and Pure Mathematics 1. The Lower Sixth Form student was said to be the country’s top performer. The top performer should be drawn from the Upper Sixth Form level however, Education Minister Priya Manickchand maintained that there should be no differentiation between the two levels and she held that James was the top performer.
Upper Sixth Form student Christopher Chinnatambi, 19, who achieved grade ones in Chemistry 1, Pure Mathematics 1, Biology 2, Chemistry 2 and grades twos in Biology 1 and Pure Mathematics 2, was the next best performer.
Manickchand, at a press conference yesterday, revealed the top performers and stated that Guyana’s overall performance has improved since 2011.
“When we are dealing with our young people, if one does better from year to year, it’s a lot for us, it’s very good but when you look at the fact that in 2011 we had less candidates writing less subjects and in 2012 we had more candidates writing more subjects, the margin for error was greater and that didn’t happen. What we saw instead was a four percentage point [increase],” she explained.
The Minister noted that out of 740 candidates who sat the examination, 86.2 percent passed with acceptable matriculation.
“65 percent of our 740 candidates that wrote the examination this year got two grades ones and more. This is a remarkable accomplishment. This is equivalent to almost an associate’s degree. So, this is like our 17 and 18 year olds getting a degree,” she said.
According to Manickchand, there were nine other students from Queen’s College, three from Bishops’ High, three from St. Rose’s High and one each from President’s College and the Adult Education Association who secured three Grade One passes. Females, she added, accounted for 60.7 percent of those who passed.
The other schools that presented candidates were Mackenzie High; New Amsterdam Multilateral; St. Stanislaus’ College; Mae’s Secondary and St. Joseph’s High.
“Should the ministry take credit? Of course, if it is seen as a reduction, we have to look at the reduction. When I say the ministry, I speak not only of central ministry officers but also the teachers who have put in extra hours, the administration of schools that have followed our policies that we have set up, the fact that the syllabus was finished in time. I think the Ministry of Education across the board, including education districts that have been monitoring and supervising their schools more like Mackenzie and New Amsterdam, should take credit for it, we congratulate them for the effort we’ve seen and there is still work to be done,” Manickchand stated.
With regards to the Carib-bean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination results, Manickchand said that this is expected to be released tomorrow and will be available online as well.
In addition to this, she noted that representatives of the Caribbean Examinations Council are expected to arrive in Guyana on August 16.
“There is a renewed interest in what we are doing here in our country with our subjects that attracted the attention of CXC and they’ve asked us and we have invited them to come down here and release the results of the entire Caribbean, which will be streamed live,” she announced.
