CAPE top student heads into medical field
An aspiring cardiothoracic surgeon, this year’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) student, Shalita Appadu is all set to pursue an associate degree in Biology at the University of Guyana, Tain Campus, come September.
Appadu, a former student of the New Amsterdam Multilateral School (NAMS), achieved six grade ones and one grade two. She studied a combination of science and business subjects at the sixth form level at President’s College, but has decided to build her career in the medical field.
Shalita Appadu, top 2013 CAPE performer
She said that even though her time at President’s College meant living away from her family in Berbice, it was a wonderful experience.
“I made a lot of friends and met a lot of interesting people; President’s College is a great environment,” Appadu said.
She explained that living in the dormitory has its advantages, as it enables group studying and discussions, which she and her peers often did. She credited her success to God, her family and her teachers at President’s College, who she said are extremely dedicated and hardworking.
This year, 748 candidates from eight Secondary Schools and two private centres in May/June 2013, wrote the CAPE in Guyana.
Appadu said that President’s College being placed in the top will motivate the students there to challenge themselves more to perform even better.
The top student is excited to commence the new UG academic year in her hometown. She explained that attending the Tain Campus will allow her to be close to her family from whom she has been way for the past two years.
“It’s a marvellous thing to have that Campus at Tain, now a lot of Berbicians are not settling for CSEC level jobs, they are aiming for better paying jobs because they are pursuing higher education,” she said.
Speaking about this year’s overall performance both at the CAPE and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, she said that it is clear that the education system has improved greatly over the years.
However, she agreed with Education Minister, Priya Manickchand that much more emphasis should be placed on the two core subject areas, Mathematics and English.
Queen’s College has also come out shining at this year’s CAPE exams with six of its students copping five grade ones each and five others, four grades ones each. Of the latter category, three of them got one grade one each and other a grade three.
Some of these outstanding performers include: Melodie Lowe, Kaleshwar Singh, Prashant Shivdas, Deowattie Narine, Anuradha Dev, and Benedict Sukra all of whom secured five Grade Ones each.
Overall, Guyana has recorded a slight increase in performance at the CAPE exams with improvement in the number of Grades One and three passes.
In 2012, the number of Grades Ones attained was 266 or 9.31 percent, this year it is314 or 10.55 percent and in Grade Threes, from 621 or 21.74 percent in 2012 to 657 or 22.07 percent in 2013.