When 16-year-old Amisha Ramdin announced her interest in writing 20 subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, the Saint Ignatius Secondary School student was met with both encouragement and skepticism.
Now, not only is Ramdin the top performer for Region Nine at this year’s CSEC examinations, she is also among the country’s top CSEC performers overall.
Ramdin says her fascination with her uncle’s work as a doctor combined with her love for children has set her on a path towards seeking to become a paediatric surgeon.
As a result, she knew that in order to achieve her goals, she had to work tirelessly and was prepared and determined to do so.
However, she also received inspiration when a belief held by her fellow schoolmates and others came to her attention. According to Ramdin, it is a common belief among youths in the hinterland that once a person does not attend a school in the city, they would be unable to excel academically.
Determined to prove that their belief was inaccurate, Ramdin decided to write 20 subjects at CSEC. “Not only did I want to challenge myself, I wanted to give future CSEC students hope. I wanted to give my fellow Rupununians hope. I wanted to show them that we can do just as well as students on the coast,” Ramdin disclosed.
Her choice was met by both encouragement and discouragement. “I don’t know why you doing this, you’re just stressing yourself out,” Ramdin quoted one person as saying. Nevertheless, she started down her path, which she described as “challenging, scary and difficult.” “It was very difficult, especially with the School Based Assessments. Sometimes I wanted to give up,” she said.
Furthermore, Ramdin said while she may have seemed confident of her success, it was nothing of the sort. She was beginning to get uncertain about her results. She knew that she would do well but she did not expect to be among the top performers of the country.
“When I heard, I was so shocked and happy. I didn’t expect that. It’s difficult to explain how I felt at that moment. All I knew was that I exceeded my expectations,” Ramdin said.
Community effort
At the National Grade Six Assessment, Ramdin and Angelique Thomas had secured 502 marks and topped the region. She was offered a place at St Joseph High School in Georgetown as a result. Her mother, Janice Torres, was apprehensive about sending Ramdin alone to Georgetown. Torres, a teacher and head of the Language Department at Saint Ignatius Secondary, attempted to get a release from the region so she could teach in the city while her daughter attended St Joseph. However, she was unsuccessful, which resulted in her enrolling Ramdin at Saint Ignatius Secondary.
Torres credited her daughter’s success to the teachers and other members of the community. “I am really happy for her. It was a community effort and everyone is happy and celebrating,” the-mother-of-two said during an interview with Sunday Stabroek via telephone.
The teacher disclosed that when her daughter told her that she wanted to write 20 subjects at CSEC, she was a bit skeptical about the endeavour. However she had no doubt that her daughter would perform well as while Ramdin was an average student at the primary level, she was the top performer during her secondary school years. Not willing to deter Ramdin, Torres told her daughter to inform the Head teacher of the school of her intentions and to draft a study timetable.
Ramdin’s intentions were met with surprise and great excitement by the head teacher, who encouraged and assisted Ramdin with her studies. The year for Torres was also very challenging. As a teacher, she had limited time for her children on week days. However, she tried very hard to give Ramdin the attention she needed.
Save for Mathematics, Torres said her daughter did not attend extra lessons so she tried her best to assist her with her studies whenever possible. Further, she made sure Ramdin participated in extracurricular activities. “I did not want her to focus on her studies alone; I wanted her to participate in other activities,” she said. Ramdin who was also determined to have a “balanced-life,” participated in debates, sport and Mashramani activities, among others. “It was a tough journey but she (Ramdin) is very self-motivated and disciplined,” Torres concluded.
Ramdin, who credits her success to her parents and also to her teachers and other members of the community, plans to continue her studies at Queen’s College in the upcoming school year.
Ramdin secured 15 Grade 1 passes (Mathematics, Office Administration, Electronic Document Preparation and Management, Social Studies, Human and Social Biology, Biology, Industrial Technology, Chemistry, Principles of Business, Geography, Agricultural Science, Physical Education and Sport, Information Technology, English A and Food, Nutrition and Health) and five Grade 2 passes (English B, Technical Drawing, Physics, Caribbean History and Principles of Accounts).
