Guyana has secured four awards and the top performer position at the regional level for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand announced yesterday.
According to the Minister, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has informed that Guyana topped the Caribbean for CSEC and has nabbed four awards at the regional level. Bhedesh Persaud of Queen’s College was declared top performer at the regional level after he secured 22 Grade 1 passes and a Grade 2 pass. Bhedesh is also the holder of the Most Outstanding in Sciences award for the Carib-bean. Anthony Sukra of New Amsterdam Secondary was awarded the most outstanding in technical and vocational studies, with the Most Outstanding in Business award going to Nyron Seoukienandan of St Rose’s High. Shania Sattaur of Brickdam Secondary School was awarded Most Outstanding in Principles of Accounts.
The Chief Education Officer, Dr Marcel Hutson, in delivering the detailed analysis of the results at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) in Kingston, noted that of the 12,009 students registered for 2020’s CSEC, 76% were able to achieve Grades 1 to 3 at the General and Technical proficiencies.
Improved performances were recorded in 15 subject areas while nine subject areas recorded the same pass rate as in 2019 and 11 recorded poorer performances.
According to Hudson, 12 subjects recorded a pass rate of 90% or more. These include Agricultural Science (Double Award) with 97.27%, Industrial Techno-logy-Electrical with 95.78%, Information Technology with 93.89%, Physical Education and Sports with 99.9%, Religious Education with 91.16%, and Theatre Arts with 98.93%.
English Language remained constant at 77.91% and the English Literature pass rate increased from 58.1% in 2019 to 78.03% in 2020. While Mathematics recorded a pass rate of 48.66% in 2020, as against the 43% recorded in 2019. Additional Mathematics recorded a pass rate of 74.3%.
Improved performances were also recorded in Integrated Science with an increase from 69.1% to 79.8%, Physics which saw an increase from 70% to 80.63%, Chemistry with an increase from 62.13% to 71.6%, Textile, Clothing and Fashion with an increase from 79% to 86.95%, Visual Arts with an increase from 71% to 78.81%, Biology with an increase from 76.96% to 83.63%, French with an increase from 73.1% to 77.61%, Industrial Technology-electrical with an increase from 93.4% to 95.78%, Industrial Technology Building with an increase from 96.63 to 98.45%, Family and Resource Management with an increase from 85.2% to 86.63%, Food, Nutri-tion and Health with an increase from 91.2% to 92.51%, and Agri-cultural Science (Single Award) with an increase from 95.92% to 96.67%.
Human and Social Biology suffered a performance decline from 62% in 2019 to 59.37% in 2020.
Of the 11 subjects which saw a decline in performance, Human and Social Biology recorded the steepest drop. The other six subjects were Caribbean History – 68.17% to 64.49%, Spanish – 68.3% to 66.62%, Social Studies – 70.4% to 67.89%, Additional Mathematics – 80% to 74.3%, Principles of Accounts – 83% to 79. 28%, Office Administration – 88% to 87%, Technical Drawing – 96.1% to 88.71%, Religious Education – 100% to 91.16%, Information Technology – 98% to 93.89%, and Agricultural Science (Double Award) – 98.74% to 97.27%.
Meanwhile performance remained constant for Geography with 76%, Music with 100%, Principles of Business with 87%, Electronic Document Preparation and Management with 97%, Industrial Technology Mechanical with 99%, Theatre Arts with 98.93% (barely reaching 2019’s 99.4%), Physical Education and Sports with 99.9%, and Portuguese with 99.9%… the two latter also barely keeping pace with 2019’s 100%.
Childhood friends were among the top performers at CSEC. Duvina Seurattan and Swasti Saytoo, both of Anna Regina Secondary, have been friends since their primary school days although they did not attend the same primary school. Seurattan and Saytoo, who secured the second and third places, respectively, will be furthering their studies at Canadian universities.
Seurattan secured Grade Ones in Agricultural Science (double award), Biology, Caribbean History, Chemistry, Electronic Document Preparation Management, English A and English B, Family and Resource Management, Food, Nutrition and Health Technical, Human and Social Biology, Integrated Science, Information Technology, Mathematics, Office Administration, Physical Education and Sports, Physics, Principles of Business, Social Studies, Religious Education, and Spanish. She also secured a Grade Two in Economics.
Saytoo meanwhile secured Grade Ones in Agricultural Science (double award), Chemistry, Electronic Document Preparation Management, English A and English B, Family and Resource Management, Food, Nutrition and Health Technical, Human and Social Biology, Integrated Science, Information Technology, Mathematics, Office Administration, Physical Education and Sports, Principles of Business, Social Studies Spanish. She secured Grade Twos in Industrial Technology and Electrical, Physics, and Religious Education.
