Education Minister Priya Manickchand extended felicitations to the outstanding performers at this year’s local and regional examinations, and to their parents and teachers, asserting that the ministry itself cannot create successful students but it depends on partnerships with parents, teachers and communities.
“These top students being celebrated here today are really representations of the new Guyana that we have before us, that we can justly celebrate,” she said in her address at the National Awards Ceremony held yesterday at the National Cultural Centre.
“You are at an extremely exciting point in the country’s history. Guyana is just ready for takeoff. We are poised for so many good things. We are positioned to have so much happen. You are the children, the people of tomorrow. You can take our country and fashion it in the way you would like to see it. You get to decide what Guyana’s tomorrow looks like. You get to decide what Guyana looks like in 20 years,” she said in her charge to the students.
The national awards ceremony recognises the achievements of students who have excelled in the following areas of assessment and institutions: National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), Carib-bean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), Guyana Technical Education Examination (GTEE), Carnegie School of Home Economics (CSHE) and the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), the ministry said in a press release. The minister was also quick to point out that there is much more work to be done by the ministry to enhance the quality of education delivered.
“Even as we celebrate, we are deeply conscious at the MOE that we have much more work yet to be done in making sure our teachers are the very best they can be. We will not be complacent. We will be working even harder. We are going to stay committed and reenergize ourselves to make sure we deliver the best education that is possible at this time in Guyana,” she said.
Manickchand also expressed her disappointment with the Opposition leaders for not making time to congratulate and celebrate the success of “our Guyanese sons and daughters.”
“We got the Best Overall Performance, Most Outstanding Performance in Science, Most Outstanding Award in Business Education, Most Outstanding Performance in Humanities, and Most Outstanding Performance in Technical and Vocational Education. We got five of the eight awards the CXC offers. Other countries are celebrating us, blogging about us and writing editorials about us. It is absolutely shameful and disgraceful that not one single leader from the opposition has found it appropriate to congratulate our children, to celebrate the teachers that they often criticize, to say thank you to the hard working parents they go to for votes every five years,” she said.
Meanwhile, in his feature address Prime Minister Samuel Hinds congratulated the students for their outstanding performances, saying that government is vindicated by their success after investing heavily in the education sector.
Awards
The recipients of awards for National Grade Sex Assessment 2013 are Salma Majeed from the ISA Islamic Academy with 548 marks, followed by the Christian Pile and Navindra Persaud from Mae’s Under 12, with 547 and 545 marks respectively.
Best Junior Secondary School Performers (CSEC)
The Best Junior Secondary School performers at the CSEC level are Zimeena Rasheed with 18 grade ones and two grade twos and Yogeeta Persaud with 18 grade ones, both from the from the Anna Regina Secondary School. Rafena Mustapha and Parmeshwarie Seodat both of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan, both secured 15 grade ones.
Best Senior Secondary School Performers (CSEC)
The Best Senior Secondary School performers at the CSEC level were all from Queen’s College. They are Cecil Cox, 16 grade ones; Phillipe Walker, 17 grade ones; Akeila Wiltshire, 16 grade ones and one grade two and Akash Jairam, 16 grade ones, one grade two and one grade three.
Carnegie School of Home Economics (CSHE)
Six students from Carnegie were honoured for their outstanding work. They are Luis Field for Garment Construction, Kimberly Baker for Commercial Food Preparation, Johnel Bourne for Catering and Hospitality, Carlyn Grahame and Alicia Mc Calman for General Cosmetology and Kamalita Heeralall for Visual Arts in the Craft Production and Design Division.
Guyana Technical Education Examinations
Five students from the Government Technical Institute (GTI) received awards for their outstanding performances. They are Javin Armstrong who gained an Elementary Certificate in Telecommuni-cations; Michael Hunte with a Techni-cian’s Certificate in Electrical Engineering Part II; Colin Quintyn with a Technician Diploma in Building and Civil Engineering; Shaneza Moore with an Ordinary Diploma in Commerce and David Duncan who gained an Ordinary Diploma in Science.
Khemraj Ramcharran of the Essequibo Technical Institute was honoured for excelling in the Basic Craft Certificate in Automotive Studies. Two students from the New Amsterdam Technical Institute were honoured for their performance: Tejpaul Thakoordine with a Craft Certificate in Electrical Installation and Rashana Henry with a Diploma in Computer Science.
For the individual awards, Cecil Cox of Queen’s College was awarded the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate for Best Science Performer while the award for the overall Best Performer at the CSEC level went to Yogeeta Persaud of Anna Regina Secondary School.
The best performers at the 2013 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) are Auradha Dev, Dewattie Narine, Prashat Shivas, Keleshwar Singh, Benedict Sukra, and Melodie Lowe, all from Queen’s College and Shalita Appadu from President’s College. The overall best performer at CAPE was awarded to Jonelle James of Queen’s College.
The award for The Most Improved Primary School was given to Cumberland Primary while Tutorial High School was awarded The Most Improved Junior Secondary School. The Most Improved Senior Secondary School is St Joseph High School. In addition, Veronica Jeffrey, from the Turkeyen Centre (Early Childhood), won the award for the Best Graduating Student from CPCE.
The Special Award for Most Outstanding Performances at the CSEC 2013 was presented to Yogeeta Persaud (Anna Regina Secondary School) – Best Overall Performance; Cecil Cox (Queen’s College) – Most Outstanding Performance in Science; Sasha Woodroffe (Queen’s College) – Most Outstanding Award in Business Education; Rafena Mustapha (Saraswati Vidya Niketan) – Most Outstanding Performance in Humanities and Zimeena Rasheed (Anna Regina Secondary School) – Most Outstanding Performance in Technical and Vocational Education.
