Saskia Twahir, of School of the Nations, is this year’s top student at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
The 12-year-old scored 524 marks out of a possible 529 marks to earn a place at Queen’s College, while narrowly edging out five students who scored 523 marks and nine others who scored 522 marks.
A confident Twahir spoke with reporters outside the Ministry of Education, where the official results were announced yesterday, and related how great she felt upon learning the news, while stating that she has been working toward the goal for the past six years. She acknowledged that familial support, as well as encouragement from those around her, had an influence on her performance.
“My mother has been so supportive to me. I would also like to thank Allah the Almighty for giving me this success in life. Everyone was saying that I’d do well and so I guess I got that encouragement from everybody,” Twahir said. While she is still unsure about what career path she would like to pursue, she said she has hopes of one day becoming an entrepreneur, and taking over her father’s bus service business.
Meanwhile, Twahir’s teacher, Cheryl Semple, who was present at yesterday’s announcement, shared that while she felt a sense of pride at her student’s achievement, the result took team effort.
Second row from left: Brandon Gouveia, Jerod Roberts, Tristan Richards and Tia Chung
Third row from left: Amelia Sugrim, Emily Lalchand, Muhammad Bacchus and Raj Seeram
Last row from left: Tristan Persaud, Kripa Thani and Xiana Chabilal
“I feel good but it’s always a team effort,” Semple said. “I’m just the last person at the end of the race. Without the foundation nothing would be there… praises need to go to all of the teachers as well as the parents because they had a big part to play in this…I do know for Saskia, she’s put in a lot of work.”
‘You have to take breaks’
Those students who scored 523 marks are Clifton Bacchus, Gabriella Roberts, Xiana Chabilal, Amelia Sugrim and Antonia Dey.
Bacchus, a student of Mae’s under 12, related that he was surprised at the announcement that he had made the top 10, as he did not expect to do so well. He did, however, credit his performance to extra lessons, noting that while Mathematics had at one point been his weakest subject, it is now his strongest subject area, as well as his favourite.
“Don’t study all the time, you have to take breaks and play and so on in between,” Bacchus advised, noting that this was the method he employed in the week leading up to the exams whenever he felt stressed. The aspiring pilot said his hobbies include playing cricket and skating.
Roberts, of Success Elementary who is excited about attending Queen’s College, wanted to thank God, her parents and the teachers of her school. The bubbly 11-year-old, who wants to be a veterinarian someday, told Stabroek News that apart from her studies, which she did day and night, she was very much involved in other activities that her school offered.
Graham’s Hall Primary pupil Chabilal was in high spirits yesterday and she said that while she was surprised at the result, it was not unexpected.
“I went to my teacher’s lessons and she’s been a great encouragement to me and so were my parents,” Chabilal said, while also thanking her tutors. The Mathematics enthusiast said that she one day hopes to become a paediatrician because of the influence her own doctor has had in her life.
Her advice to students is to study well, make sacrifices, and listen to their parents and teachers. She acknowledged that she had sacrificed her gadgets in the term leading up to her examinations, only utilising them for homework assistance.
Sugrim, of the Academy of Excellence, thanked her parents and teachers for the roles they played in her success, which she attributed to hard work and constant revision.
While she did not take any extra lessons in preparation for the assessment, Sugrim said she gave up watching television on weekdays, only indulging a little on the weekends. She, too, would like to be a paediatrician in the future.
Dey, 11, also of Academy of Excellence, credited her success to her parents and her teachers. She likes reading books and is into literature and said she hopes to become a writer one day. She advised those students who are writing the exam next year to wake up early in the mornings to study or as soon as the new term starts to start studying. Dey, who was a member of the national swim team, said she had to give that up to study. She will be joining three of her fellow classmates at Queen’s College in September.
‘I can breathe now’
The students who scored 522 marks were Brandon Gouveia, Emily Lalchand, Raj Seeram, Tristan Persaud, Jerod Roberts, Tristan Richards, Muhammad Bacchus, Tia Chung and Kripa Thani.
Seeram, of Swami Purnananda Primary, was glowing as he spoke to reporters about his success. He said he was very happy with what he has done and thanked his family members and his teachers for working with him.
Gouveia, a student of Academy of Excellence, said he was relieved that he got the school of his dreams. “I am very excited and I can breathe now that I know that I got Queen’s College,” he said. Gouveia, whose ambition is to become a chemist, said that he is looking forward to working in the laboratory at his new school come September. When asked by Stabroek News if he has any tips to pass on to students who will be writing the NGSA next year, he said they should study hard but try not to overdo or they could reach a breaking point. Gouveia thanked his mother and teachers of his school who put in a few extra hours to work with him and his fellow classmates.
Twelve-year-old Lalchand, of the Academy of Excellence, admitted that she did not expect to do so well. She gave thanks to her parents and siblings as well as the teachers at her school, and credited her success to constant reading and revising, which she also recommended to others following on the path.
“I would just like to tell them to be dedicated, to revise a lot, because that takes you far. It takes you a long way,” she said.
Asked what career she has in mind, Lalchand related that she is envisioning one in law, as she, laughingly, added, “My parents said that I could argue a good point.”
Persaud, 11, of Academy of Excellence, was grinning from ear to ear. “I am excited because no one in my family ever got Queen’s College,” he said, before adding that he wants to be an engineer one day. He credited his success to his parents, the teachers of his school and other colleagues. Persaud said that what he achieved did not come easy, as there were some sacrifices he had to make in the months leading up to his exams. “I sacrificed a lot of play time. At times I would get angry when I see my friends and family playing and I would have to go and study,” he recalled. “But the sacrifice I made played a major role since it brought a good result for me at the exams.”
“Just a few hours ago I realised that I did so well and I’m so proud of myself. I feel amazing. I’m so happy,” said Thani, of Mae’s Under 12. “I would like to thank my parents, I’d also like to thank my class teacher, teacher Penny, Sir Kareem and teacher Onika and a major thanks to teacher Cindy, who has been with me since Grade 1 until now.”
Thani sees a future for herself in business, selling apparel. Her advice to next year’s batch of students is, “You have to dedicate all of yourself to this but of course don’t burn the midnight oil because when you overwork it does not help at all.”
Richards, a student of Dharmic Rama Krishna, said he can now also breathe a sigh of relief that this hurdle is over and he has placed among the top ten in the country.
Richards told Stabroek News that he knew that he would have done well but not this well. “It feels great. I really cannot explain what I am feeling,” he said.
While he did not attend any extra lessons, his teachers and his parents were there every step of the way, he said. Asked how he found the exam, he said Social Studies was difficult but Mathematics was very easy, while he found Science and English to be challenging. He has not yet decided what he wants to be when he grows up.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Bacchus, 11, of ISA Islamic School, said that he found the exams to be very easy. The student, who was placed among the top 10, is very excited that he got a place at Queen’s College.
Bacchus who has his eyes on making lots of money when he grows up, said that he wants to become an auditor, joking that it is “where all the money is.”
Chung, of Success Elementary described the NGSA exams as simple. “We did a lot of work and our teachers, they gave us the information we needed to excel at this exam so it was very simple for us,” the 11-year-old quipped.
Chung said she found Social Studies to be a little tricky, but all the others were easy. She has hopes of one day becoming a parliamentarian and a neurologist. The student thanked her parents, the headmaster of her school and her teacher Africo Selman, who helped her during studies. She added that they all motivated and encouraged her along the way.
With Mathematics and Science being his favourite subjects, and his early interest in simulation, it is not surprising that Marian Academy student Roberts shows an interest in becoming a pilot.
Roberts, 11, spoke of the time his mother dedicated to help him with his school work, pushing him to develop his critical thinking skills.
“I just studied with my mom, we went through ways that we could reason questions and think outside of the box, not only what we learnt and exactly putting what the notes have,” he stated.
Roberts, who plays both table tennis and cricket, advised that balance is important in the academic journey. “I would just say listen to what your parents say, revise, study hard and also have a balance where you play a sport or sing something but make sure you also have a balance because you can’t be studying hard all the time and not doing anything else than studying for your exam.”
He thanked his parents, principal and teachers, singling out Miss Onika and Sir Kareem from the Academic Enhancement Centre, for having a hand in his success. (By Dreylan Johnson and Jonelle Fields)