Guyanese students cop five of eight CXC awards
The high level of investments and equity of resources of the education sector have been credited for the outstanding performance of Guyanese students who have done their country proud. Guyana copped five of the eight regional CXC awards offered, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand announced today.
The winners from Guyana are as follows: Yogeeta Persaud – Anna Regina Secondary School, Overall Outstanding Achievement; Rafena Mustapha – Saraswati Vidya Niketan, Most Outstanding in Humanities; Cecil Cox – Queen’s College, Most Outstanding in Sciences; Sasha S Woodroffe – Queen’s College, Most Outstanding in Business Studies; and Zimeena A Rasheed – Anna Regina Secondary School, Most Outstanding in Technical Vocational.
The other three awards for Most Outstanding Candidate in Visual Arts, 2-Dimensional Work, Most Outstanding Candidate in Visual Arts, 3-Dimensional Work and Most Outstanding Candidate in Short Story Writing were won by students outside of Guyana.
“This is the continuation of the trend that Guyana has been on for a number of years now, save and except for 2010, we have been copping the best overall achievement award…our local Guyanese sons and daughters have been winning that award repeatedly,” Minister Manickchand said.
She believes that these achievements are directly as a result of the investment in the sector and due to equity of education delivery. In this regard, the Minister stressed that she was extremely pleased with the results and acknowledged that there is much still to be done.
Minister Manickchand expressed appreciation to the teachers and parents who went beyond the call of duty to ensure that these children performed at the highest level.
“This is indeed a very proud moment for Guyana and our education system…the government remains committed to the development of the education sector and continues to invest significantly in the enhancement of the quality of education provided to our students. It means that as a country we will be producing more students of high quality who will be well equipped with the essential skills that will forge a development strategy from which all Guyanese will benefit,” she said.
The Minister added that the level of achievement and progress that a country makes depends on its education system. “As such, we will remain focused – as a Government and as a Ministry – on providing an enabling environment for our students so that they will continue to excel. Moreover, we hope that this quality of excellence will serve as benchmarks so that all students of Guyana can aspire to this quality of achievement,” Minister Manickchand noted.
During the press conference the Minister was asked if the number of subjects a student can sit would be restricted. In response she explained that the Ministry does not actively encourage students to write large numbers of subjects however, the policy states that a student would have to show remarkable competency before he or she is able to write more than 8-10 subjects, and students also have to pass the Grade 9 exams before they can sign up for the CXC.
“The fact that we have students writing 20 means we have the capacity to write 20,” she said. The Minister added that over the last decade, Guyanese students have proved that they have the capacity that will catapult them to world leadership.
Within the last decade, Guyana has been consistently winning awards from CXC because of the excellent performance of its students. In 2012 the country won four of the eight Regional Awards.
The Ministry also encouraged all students in Guyana to continue to apply themselves to the core principles and practices of the subjects they study, to achieve higher quality passes at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level.
, Jamaica (40%) and Grenada (34%) have all declared national states of emergency given what they considered to be a walk of shame at their dismal performance. St Kitts is happy, but then they got a 50% pass rate.